^"' 06^'] Berney, Biyds of the Richmond Distyicl, N .Q. 43 



Spotted Nightjar {Eurostopus guttatus). — This species is only an 

 occasional visitor. I have seen it three years out of the last five, and my 

 notes then are confined to the period August to January. Mr. Keartland 

 (quoted in A. J. Campbell's " Nests and Eggs," p. 537) well describes the 

 strange night-cry of this handsome Nightjar. I should like to have named 

 it the White-spot Nightjar, for the large spot of pure white on the centre of 

 the primaries, which is really an irregular bar, commencing with an oval 

 spot on the inner web of the first primary and attaining its greatest depth 

 (^-in.) on about the third or fourth cjuill, is such a conspicuous and dis- 

 tinguishing mark as the bird is flushed from the ground. 



Plumed Frogmouth {Podargus papiiensis). — I do not often see them, 

 and then, of course, they are always in timber. Being nocturnal, and 

 naturally protected by their colour and the attitude they affect when 

 roosting, they are, I dare say, more common than one would at first 

 suppose. My records of them refer to all seasons of the year. In August, 

 1904, 1 shot one for examination, which gave among others the following 

 details : — Sex, female ; eggs in ovaries the size of swan shot ; total length, 16 

 inches ; wing, 8^ inches ; tail, 7K inches ; tarsus, IjV inches ; bill to gape, 

 i]i inches ; width of gape, lit inches. Throughout the plumage, which is 

 most soft and owl-like, there is a rusty hue caused by minute freckles of 

 red, which is most conspicuous on the outer webs of the scapularies, the tail 

 feathers (all but the centre pair), and the extremities of the primaries. The 

 markings of the under surface are richer than those of the upper, the lights 

 being lighter and the darks darker. The extremities of the tail feathers are 

 very pointed. The feet are quaintly chubby, and well earn for the bird its 

 generic name ; the toes, being thick and swollen at the base, taper rapidly to 

 their extremity. Under the feathers the body is freely covered with soot- 

 coloured down. On each side of the oil gland is a prominent powder 

 patch. It was the toughest bird to pluck that I ever tried to pull the feathers 

 off; many of the wing quills broke off in their sockets. This species is fond 

 of roosting in pairs, sometimes four together in the satne tree. 



Tawny Frogmouth {Podargus strigoides). — Of the four Caprimulgidcv 

 that I have been able to identify this is the one I see least ; I have but few 

 local notes concerning them. I found a nest (loth October), containing two 

 white downy chicks, situated on a horizontal limb of a gidea tree. I only 

 lifted one of the youngsters to examine it, yet on my way home in the even- 

 ing I found the nest empty, and the old birds nowhere about, the chicks 

 having been removed, I suppose by the old birds, which were both at the 

 nest in the morning. 



Owlet Nightjar {/Egothcles novcE-hoUandicE). — Though not often seen, 

 on account of its being a nocturnal bird that passes the day within hollow 

 limbs, yet it is fairly numerous along the river, from whence at night it sallies 

 out across the open downs in search of insects. It may often be seen 

 hawking round the buildings here. A female bird that I obtained on 13th 

 January gave measurements as follows :— Total length, 9X inches ; wing, 

 5g inches ; tail, 4I inches ; tarsus, i inch ; culmen, |-inch ; bill to gape, 

 I inch ; width of gape, i inch. Just above the ear coverts, from the upper 

 portion of what may be called the facial disc, springs a small tuft of feathers 

 which, although it does not show on a dead specmien, is conspicuous during 

 life, and gives one the idea that the bird had waxed its eyebrows. 



DOLLAR-BiRD {Eurystomus australis). — This species is a summer 

 visitant in considerable" numbers ; arriving in October, it leaves again in 

 March or April. A male bird that I picked up dead last December 

 measured as follows :— Total length, ii inches; wing, 81V inches; tail, 

 4i. inches ; tarsus, 3_(-inch ; bill, It'b inches ; culmen, ii'g inches ; width 01" 



