1A2 Hall and Rogers, Birds from North-West Australia, [j^f'^f^,,. 



leaves, which, being old, were in exact agreement with the 

 colour and dark blotches of this pair of eggs. As all the small 

 holes are full of these leaves, the wind seems to have placed 

 them so. In the scrub and near this nest the owners were 

 patiently and fearfully watching. On a second set of eggs the 

 ground colour and markings were quite different. "A gin brought 

 two eggs to my camp to-day (same day as the find just men- 

 tioned) and said that they were those of a Stone-Plover, pointing 

 at the one I had in captivity. A blackboy tells me they lay one 

 kind at one time and another on a second occasion, but offered 

 no explanation." 



EULABEORNis CASTANEIVENTRIS (Gld.), Chestnut-bellied 

 Rail, was secured at Storm Camp, 8 miles west of Malmalaro, 

 26/8/02. It has a call that quite puzzles one on first acquaint- 

 ance. The sound is unlike that of any other bird in the bush, 

 consisting of alternate notes rapidly repeated many times, the 

 first being more like the alarm notes of the White Cockatoo 

 (C. galerita), the second like the drumming of an Emu, but 

 much louder. The call is generally given when a gun is fired. 

 On hearing the bird I tried for hours to get a sight of it,. my 

 idea of it being that a Bittern was calling. A 'i&w days later, 

 and when I had given up all hope of seeing it, one called when 

 in a patch of mangroves and walked straight up to me. Upon 

 wounding the bird with my gun it fell and then rose and bolted 

 through the scrub, I following the fastest feathered creature yet 

 hunted by myself. Tracking the bird in the soft mud I heard a 

 cry, and finally found it about one hundred yards away, quite 

 dead. If the mosquitoes were less numerous one could secure 

 the birds by sitting still. They are unbearable. 



Helodromus OCHROPUS (Green Sandpiper) I observed to- 

 day (19/8/02) for the first time this season. 



Ochtiiodromus veredu.s (Gld), Oriental Dottrel, was seen 

 for the first time this season, 23/9/02, near the Broome road 

 crossing on the Fitzroy. Among them were a few White-headed 

 Stilts, Red-kneed Dottrels, and Green Sandpipers. 



Some Notes on the Location of Birds in the Vicinity 



of Homesteads, Break'o'^day District, Tasmania. 



Bv Colonel W. V. Legc;e, F.Z.S., &c. 



Observation of the habits and economy of the ornis of a 

 newly settled country reveals the interesting fact that the 

 introduction of hedges, the formation of plantations of exotic 

 timber for shelter purposes, and consequent alteration in the 

 character of the woodlands, have no little influence on the 

 distribution of some species of birds. 



