2 20 Prom Magazines, &c. [and^ApHl 



coastal station, as the forest was extensive, fairly free from 

 underscrub, and traversed by numerous tracks. A good series 

 of birds peculiar to Mindoro were obtained, several species being 

 added to the known avifauna of the island, including a Cater- 

 pillar-eater {Edo/iisouia) hitherto undescribed. Mr. M'Gregor 

 intended to make a third camp on the mountain, but he could 

 not obtain enough of the wild hill people, known as the 

 Mangyanes, to carry even a third part of the camp paraphernalia. 

 Photographs are given of the two camps, amid vegetation 

 suggestive of tropical Queensland, besides numerous illustrations 

 of birds and nests, including the nesting site of the Little 

 Mangrove-Bittern and the nest and young of the White- rumped 

 Wood-Swallow, both well-known Australian species. Three 

 nests of the Mangrove-Bittern were found — two each containing 

 a pair of young, the third a single bluish egg. The nests con- 

 sisted of very small bunches of twigs placed on roots of fallen 

 trees in midstream. Several nests of the Wood-Swallow 

 examined also contained young, but two were found with each a 

 full complement of four eggs. The nest was always placed on 

 the end of a snag or butt of a fallen tree in the river. 



With true American enterprise, the Government are exploring 

 the avifauna of the Philippines. Surely this is an example to 

 Australian Governments. How rarely is an Australian natural 

 history collecting expedition subsidized except by private (often 

 foreign) enterprise ' If our Governments do not rise to their 

 responsibilities in exploring vast regions — notably the great 

 North-West — of unknown Commonwealth territory, will not 

 some public-spirited citizen embrace the opportunity, and 

 thereby enrich the knowledge of the world, and at the same 

 time send his name down to posterity for ever? 



The Regent-Bird. — In T/ie Aviadticral Magazine for 

 December, and continued in the two following issues, Mr. 

 Reginald Phillips contributes a most interesting and valuable 

 article on Regent-Birds {Sericnlus nieliiins) which he has kept in 

 his aviaries, where he was successful in getting them to breed. 



Mr. Phillips finds much character in the Regent-Bird, its ways 

 and habits being of exceptional interest, whilst its movements 

 are quaint and curious, and its manner of courting fantastic to 

 a degree. " A healthy Regent in a roomy place must play the 

 fool, and if it has not a fellow to play the fool with, it will play 

 the fool with some other bird, with a stone, a projecting stick, 

 anything. It is never so happy as when making itself 

 ridiculous." The Regent-Bird is evidently not a cage-bird, but 

 must be kept in a natural garden aviary, and as its native 

 habitat is the tropics and sub-tropics, it must not be over- 

 exposed to cold. Care is also needed with its food, or the bird 



