AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 39 



loaded and clogged with these fruits that they are incapable of 

 flight. Surely here is a wonderful partnership between the tree- 

 frequenting Noddy and the forest tree that provides shelter and 

 nesting places for it. It is, indeed, a marvellous method of seed 

 dispersal. 



The number of ocean birds breeding on these tiny island-para- 

 dises is amazing. Minute Mast Head Island is a place free of 

 all pests — no flies, no mosquitoes, no ticks, no snakes, nor prickly 

 plants, but a deep shady forest of giant Pisonia trees, sometimes 

 covered with creepers and lianas, and fringed with pretty flower- 

 ing shrubs, fig trees, and long green grass, and surrounded, above 

 spring-tide level, by a fringe of graceful Horse-tail Sheoaks 

 (Casuarinas). We calculated that over 100,000 birds bred annu- 

 ally on this 100-acre sandbank, no point of which rose 10 feet 

 above spring-tide level. The graceful White-capped Noddies 

 already mentioned nested high and low on the trees and shrubs. 

 Petrels in thousands burrowed in the sand under the giant 

 Pisonias, which are so thickly foliaged that not enough light 

 penetrates to enable undergrowth to flourish, so the sand was 

 practically bare in the centre of the island. Reef Herons nested 

 low on spreading branches or interlacing roots. Silver Gulls ana 

 Oyster-catchers nested on the ground, within about a yard of the 

 spring-tide mark; Doves, Silver-eyes, Bell-Magpies (Streperas), 

 Caterpillar-eaters, Kingfishers, and other land birds nested in the 

 trees, while the White-bellied Sea-Eagle (almost a fac-simile of 

 the Bald Eagle of America) had his nest overlooking all, on the 

 highest tree on the island. The Frigate Birds were not nesting 

 on Mast Head Island, but they roosted each night in the tall She- 

 oaks at the water's edge. It was a treat, in the late afternoon, 

 to see these glorious birds winding up their invisible staircase 

 into the vast void of upper air. Gloriously and calmly they 

 sailed up and up, until the merest speck only could be seen. Of 

 corals, turtles, and other marvels we may not speak here. The 

 migrating wading-birds had just reached the island after their 

 long journey from Siberian Tundras. Some were so poor that 

 we caught Sandpipers by hand. Flocks of Turnstone, Golden 

 Plover, Godwits, Curlew, and other wading-birds were there, pos- 

 sibly only resting before continuing their journey to the South. 

 It was indeed a privilege to live on such a spot for nine days and 

 to see Nature in some of her most interesting phases. 



The two Australian Seagulls illustrate the "law of representa- 

 tives" so often referred to by Gould. It is strange how often a 

 closely similar representative of a Northern bird is found in Aus- 

 tralia. Thus the big Pacific Gull is the representative of the 

 large Gull of Europe, though its peculiar deepened and orange- 

 colored bill is distinctive. It does not gain its beautiful white 

 and black plumage until it is three or more years old, being 

 brown in the first year, and brown and white in the second year. 



The Silver Gull is known to all. Though a dainty-looking 

 bird, it has a bad character. It is worse than any bird of prey 

 for stealing eggs and young birds, for let a gannet or other nesting 



