^°'-^^^-l Mattingley, ^ Visit to Heronries. 71 



1907 J ' / 



nests were reached ; some contained only one egg, others two, 

 and a few three and four delicately tinged greenish-blue eggs, 

 somewhat larger than the little Plumed Egret's eggs. In the 

 centre of this heronry a pair of Black-cheeked Falcons {Falco 

 Diclanogenys) had their nest, and no doubt some broods of 

 ducklings paid them toll until such times as the young Herons 

 were hatched, when, no doubt, the Falcons preyed upon them, 

 and perhaps their parents too ! As yet no young Herons of 

 the several species in the rookery were hatched, but that " black 

 demon " and thief, the Raven {Corone ajistralis) was in evidence, 

 as with maniacal " Caw-caw-car-r-r " he hovered about the 

 heronry and robbed the birds of their eggs systematically when 

 the Herons left them unguarded, judging by the broken egg- 

 shells seen floating on the water beneath the trees. The day 

 being now half over, we repair to the White Egrets' rookery and 

 climb several trees with nests, some of which contained either 

 three or four eggs, which appeared to be the full clutch of both 

 the Plumed Egret {MesopJioyx pluinifera) and the large White 

 Egret {Herodias tiiiwriensis), which birds we found nesting close 

 together. A few Little Cormorants {PJialacrocorax vielanoleucus) 

 also were seen on their nests in a tall tree in the heronry, and 

 harmonious relations apparently existed between them and the 

 Plumed Egrets, which also occupied the same tree. Photos, 

 having been taken in the limited time at my disposal — all too 

 short to do justice to the subject — we return to camp. 



Plundered for their Plumes. 



By a. H. p:. Mattingley, Melbourne. 



In a previous paper * I gave an account of a visit to heronries, 

 protographing nests, &c. Notwithstanding the extreme heat, 

 and being companionless except for myriads of mosquitoes, I 

 determined to revisit the locality again during my Christmas 

 holidays, in order to obtain one picture only— namely, that of a 

 " White Crane " or Egret feeding its young. I had some 

 difficulty locally in getting a man to assist me with the boat, 

 which had to be paddled about 12 miles to reach the heronry. 

 When near the place we could see some large patches of white, 

 cither floating in the water or reclining on the fallen trees in the 

 vicinity of the Egrets' rookery. This set me speculating as to 

 the cause of this unusual sight. As we drew nearer, what a 

 spectacle met our gaze — a sight that made my blood fairly boil 

 with indignation. There, strewn on the floating water-weed, 

 and also on adjacent logs, were at least 50 carcasses of large 

 White and smaller Plumed Egrets — nearly one-third of the 

 rookery, perhaps more — the birds having been shot off their nests 



* Page 65 of this issue. — Ed. 



