^°i9o6^'J D'Ombrain, Visit to an Ibis Rookery. 1 89 



a shot is fired from the gun. Bang ! In a moment there is a wild 

 commotion and the air seems whisthng with the sounds of 

 hundreds of thousands of wings cleaving it, and then in one mighty 

 cloud the whole assembly takes flight, making the sky look black 

 and white, and as though it were filled with Harpies or the Sirens 

 of Ulysses, the effect being heightened by the long bills, outstretched 

 necks, and general peculiar appearance of the birds. Now they wheel 

 and swing, and wheel again, gradually rising and soaring, filling the 

 whole sky. Some continue flying and circling round high up, but 

 by far the greater number are too anxious about household cares 

 to keep away, and soon alight, and it is a mystery how they ever 

 find their own again. 



To see the birds settle is an interesting sight. With long bill and 

 neck outstretched and lowered, legs drooping in a queer " touch- 

 bottom " sort of way, and much wing- flapping and final balancing 

 on the nest platforms, they settle ; and then the squawking, pushing, 

 pecking, and final taking up of positions begins again, and in a 

 little while all is as before. 



Standing waist deep in a reedy swamp, we find it no easy matter 

 to secure a firm footing for the camera, but we manage somehow, and 

 after having taken such views as we want we wade out. 



Some Bird Observations. 

 By (Dr.) J. Burton Cleland, Adelaide. 



Wood-Swallows {Artami) and Hawk. — Some years ago, 

 while approaching a thick belt of scrub near Adelaide, we were 

 much struck by the alarm notes of a number of Wood-Swallows, 

 and also by the fact that they were hawking at a higher elevation 

 than usual. At last we discovered the cause of this excitement 

 — a Hawk, perched in one of the trees ; and then the object of 

 the manoeuvres of the Wood-Swallows became apparent, for 

 as long as they kept in their flight well above the enemy he 

 could not swoop on them and they were safe ! The species of 

 Wood-Swallow was", if I remember aright, A. sordidus. 



Sparrows at Sea. — On 8tli November, 1905, on board the s.s, 

 Salaviis, when 200 miles S.W. of C. Otway, from which direction a 

 strong N.E. wind was blowing, several European Sparrows flew 

 on board, apparently not much exhausted. The nearest land 

 might, perhaps, have been a little less than that stated above, 

 but the wind was not blowing directly from it. In Melbourne 

 the day had been very hot. This incident shows how easily distant 

 islands may be populated by means of strong winds of some 

 duration, which do not even approach the force of a hurricane. 

 Doubtless native birds of feebler flight had also been blown 

 away from shore, but had at last succumbed. The course we 

 were pursuing was not in the track of vessels leaving Melbourne 



