352 MEROPiD.*:. 



remarks: — " Merops oi'imtiis is numerous at all seasons, and breeds in October and November. 

 It seems to feed principally on the white butterfly of the processional caterpillar." 



Mr. G. A. Heartland sends me the following notes from Melbourne : — " .\lthough Merops 

 oniatus is a regular visitor to tbe northern portions of \'ictoria, it seldom approaches the vicinity 

 of Melbourne. In November 1897, however, several were seen at Melton and Bayswater. 

 Generally this species is met with in pairs, one usually perched, while its mate flies around in 

 search of insects. It was very common near the junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers, 

 North-western Australia, in January 1897." 



From Adelaide Dr. .\. M. Morgan sends me the following notes : — " Merops ornatm is a 

 common visitor to the southern parts of South Australia; they arrive about August and leave 

 for the north again in February. I have noticed that on their return journey the young birds go 

 in flocks apart from the old ones. At Laura I found plenty of nests in November, 1895, '^he 

 first noted on the and and the last on the 25th November ; all contained fresh eggs varying from 

 two to five in number, the former probably incomplete sets. The breeding holes were between two 

 and three feet long, and terminated in a chamber large enough for the bird to turn round in 

 without injuring the long tail feathers; these holes were all drilled in a sandy bank. At the 

 Finniss I came across these birds breeding in the scrub, the holes being dug in the flat, sandy 

 and easily excavated soil. One I dug out was about three feet long, descending in a slanting 

 direction to the egg chamber, which was about two feet beneath the surface. Some of these 

 birds breed much later than I have found them. On the 23rd December, 1907, I received a note 

 from Mr. Morphett, Wood's Point, Murray River, informing me that he had just taken a set of 

 eggs from a hole about fifteen inches deep in a bank." 



Mr. Edwin Ashby writes me from Blackwood, South Australia: — " A few years ago Merops 

 oniatus used to nest annually in the side of a cutting at Happy Valley, a few miles south of 

 Adelaide, but I am afraid that they have left that locality. They make their long nesting burrows in 

 ' creek cut outs,' near Callington and other places on the eastern slopes of the Mount Lofty Range. 

 I have also seen the species at Nackara, two hundred miles north of Adelaide. These birds 

 hawk for insects in much the same graceful manner as Ariamiis personatus, and make a similar 

 chattering noise." 



Mr. Tom Carter writes me from Broome Hill, South-western Australia: — '^Merops ornatus 

 was numerous about the bed of the Gascoyne Ri\er, and not uncommon at some of the creeks 

 inland from Point Cloates, during the winter months, but were rarely noticed there after 

 November. At Broome Hill they are mostly seen in the summer months, about February and 

 March, and in greatest numbers on very hot days. I have skins of fully fledged immature birds 

 shot on 2oth January. Near Busselton, on the Vasse River, a colony of these birds had dug out 

 holes on open flats, and both eggs incubated and young birds in the nesting places were noted. 

 i saw it at Kellerberin in January, 1903." 



For the purpose of breeding it tunnels generally in loose sandy soil for two or three feet, 

 often more, at the e.vtremity of which a chamber is hollowed out sufficiently large enough to 

 comfortably accommodate the sitting bird. The nesting sites are varied, often they are in a 

 gently sloping rise, rarely in the face of a steep bank, but frequently in the perfectly bare flat 

 sandy soil. On the Namoi River and at West Narrabri, in November 1S96, I found numbers 

 of them in an open sandy waste, and close to a thick brigalow scrub. .\t Coonamble, in Octobber 

 1905, there were comparatively few birds and their tunnels far apart ; some were near the edge, 

 others in the sandy soil among knee-high herbage. 



Five is the usual number of eggs laid for a sitting, sometimes six, rarely seven. They are 

 pure white, the shell being close grained, smooth and lustrous. A set of five taken by Mr. A. H. 

 Boyd, near Townsville, Queensland, on the 25th November, 1899, measure as follows: — Length 



