Voi.xvni.-j ^KCKSOV, Haunts of the Letter-winged Kite. 163 



on the edges of long, narrow water-holes, which arc filled by 

 tlie Diamantina when it overflows in flood time, as was the case 

 during last Feliruary. The seas of water on this great expanse 

 of flat country during a flood must be a wonderful sight. As a 

 rule, about 12 to 18 pairs of the birds constituted a colony when 

 breeding. After examining a very big series of the nests, we 

 found that the smallest were always the newest, and by far the 

 cleanest. Often these structures were well hidden in the green 

 leaves of the trees, and in clumps of mistletoe growing in great 

 masses on the trees ; then, again, they are often exposed to view 

 and placed away from all foliage, though well up from the ground. 

 Only one case came under our notice where a nest was buHt in a 

 tree other than a coolabah ; this was found in a clump of mistletoe 

 {Loranthiis exocarpi, Behr.) in a white- wood tree {Atalaya hemi- 

 glauca, F. v, M.) Many of them, and the limbs and ground 

 beneath, were more or less marked and streaked with whitewash- 

 like droppings — in fact, some were nearly as objectionable as 

 the nests of Cormorants. With a few exceptions, rat-fur pellets 

 were found in every nest, and on the ground under one of ordinary 

 size, which contained a clutch of five eggs, 73 of the pellets were 

 picked up, some measuring 2 inches by i inch. This proves the 

 immense value of these birds, and the number of rats that one 

 pair must destroy in a comparatively short period. Only one 

 nest was found in each tree, except on two occasions, when two 

 were met with, and in each case one was very old and not used. 



Mr. J..H. Bettington and his son, Mr. B. C. J. Bettington, 

 arrived at the camp on 19th July, and they gave me much 

 valuable help in carrying out the work. They also enjoyed being 

 amongst these beautiful birds, and found and saw many breeding. 

 Climbing coolabah trees, especially during the strong winds, 

 requires much care, as the green limbs often snap like a carrot. 

 During our visit the district, for a face of a few hundreds of miles, 

 was overrun with a plague of millions of large rats, the Letter- 

 winged Kites living on these, which they captured at night. We 

 never saw them hunting for food during the day ; they roosted 

 all day in the coolabahs, and went out over the plains rat-catching 

 as soon as it was dusk, and kept going backwards and forwards 

 all hours of the night and early morning. I collected specimens 

 of these rats for identification, preserving them in jars. The 

 larger and more numerous species (as shown in one of the accom- 

 pan3dng photographs) is known as the long-haired rat (Epimys 

 longipilis, Gould), and the smaller species is the sordid rat {Epimys 

 sordidus, Gould). A peculiar species of mouse, of which only 

 one specimen was met with by us, is known as the fat-tailed 

 pouched mouse (Sviinthopsis crassicaudafus, Gould). This very 

 handsome little animal possesses a large and remarkable carrot- 

 shaped tail, rather like that found on some of the gecko lizards. 



The male birds appear to do most of the rat-hunting, and on 

 returning to the clump of trees utter a short and feeble " Chirp- 

 chirp-chirp-chirp " or else a short and feeble " Kack-kack-kack- 



