^'"'gol^'] Berney, Birds of the Richmond District, N.Q. H^ 



contained thirty large chrysalises (i>^ inches long) of some species of Hawk 

 Moth [Sphing'idcF). 



Glossy Ibis {Plegadis falcineUus).— Q(iw\\)?iX?X\\€c^ seldom seen, and 

 then in small flocks up to five-and-twenty or thirty, during December to 

 February. 



Black-billed Spoonbill {Platalca regia). — A wet-season bird chiefly, 

 and then not to be seen often, usually in small lots up to twenty. It is a 

 decidedly handsome bird. 



Yellow-legged Spoonbill {P.Jfavipes). — An irregular visitor that may 

 be expected to put in an appearance in small parties, up to thirty individuals, 

 at any season of the year. They feed day and night. I have watched them 

 on a moonlight night at very close quarters. 



Egret {Herodias timoriensis). — This handsome Egret puts in an appear- 

 ance with the arrival of the wet season, and takes its leave again when 

 the shallow waters dry off the face of the earth (our portion of it), say 

 in April. 



White-fronted Heron {Notophoyx 7iovce-/iollandicc). — A constant 

 resident here. The numbers of this Heron do not seem to vary ; it matters 

 not what the season is like, or how other birds may come or go, you can 

 never go out for a day's ride in the vicinity ;;f water without seeing some 

 of them. I have found three or four nests with eggs in February and 

 jMarch, and youngsters in the down in April, also a nest with eggs on 3rd 

 September, 1903. The body of one that I secured at an Eagle-Hawk's nest 

 had the stomach crammed with grasshoppers. 



White-necked Heron {NotopJwyx pacifica). — More likely to be seen 

 during the period of the summer rains than any other time. This Heron is 

 nothing like so numerous or constant as the last species. 



My only record of a nest, a solitary one in a smooth, white-barked gum 

 [Eucalyptus rostrata) on the Flinders River, is on i6th June ; it contained 

 three youngsters in the down. I never saw these Herons congregate in 

 any way. Generally they are alone, two at most on a hole. 



Night-Heron {Nycticorax caledonicus). — From its habit of roosting all 

 day in the thickest-foliaged tree it can find, the Night Heron is seldom 

 seen, and therefore naturally gets the credit of being more rare than it really 

 is, but it is nevertheless a scarce bird about Richmond. The few that I see 

 do not appear to favour any particular season of the year, and the two 

 or three that have come into my hands have all been birds in immature 

 plumage. 



The stomachs of both contained portions of fresh-water crabs. 



At the junction of the merrythought with the sternum, on each hip, and 

 again at the junction of the thighs (inside) with the body, there was a queer 

 powder-patch — a pale primrose-yellow, greasy, ropy-looking down, quite 

 isolated, and devoid of any powder. I have an idea that powder-down 

 birds develop the patch, but do not develop the powder till they reach 

 maturity. Both these birds were in the spotted stage of plumage, without 

 any sign of the occipital crest. 



The ovaries in No. 124 were quite undeveloped. 



