^°m?"] MORSE. Jr,rds of the Morcc District. 27 



Glottis nebularius. Greenshank. — A shy and rare visitor; it is hard 

 to approach, and when it rises it usually circles hiffh overhead, all 

 the time uttering- a loud call. 



Pisobia acuminata. Sharp-tailed Stint. — Numerous during- the sum- 

 mer months round the margins of lagoons and swamps. 



Gallinago hardwicki. Australian Snipe. — Very numerous from 

 August to Maich. Large bags are often secured by sportsmen along 

 the watercourse. I know of three guns accounting for one hundred 

 and fifty birds in one day. 



Rostratula australis. Painted Snipe. — Thinly distributed through 

 the swamps and marshes, choosing the quiet places for breeding pur- 

 poses. In the heat of summer can often be found in some shady nook 

 a hundred yards or more from water. 



Gareola maldivarum. Oriental Pratincole. — In March, 1920, while 

 driving in the north-east quarter of the district, I flushed a small 

 band of five Pratincoles from the I'cadside. In this same quarter Mr. 

 Mawhiney often sees them, and at all times of the year, so the proba- 

 bility is they breed there. 



Burhinus grallarius. Southern Stone-Curlew. — The wail of the Cur- 

 lew can still occasionally be heard, but the intervals between are be- 

 coming longer and the birds rarer and rarer. This can be aUributed 

 to the fox, to which this bird falls an easy prey. 



Eupodotis australis. Australian Bustard. — Like the previous bird, 

 is becoming scarcer and scarcer; but the fox is not the only reason for 

 this; the advent of the motor car has sounded the death knell of the 

 old turkey. A bird so timid that one can seldom approach within a 

 hundred yards of it on foot or horseback,* will permit itself almost to 

 be run over by a motor car full of men and bristling with guns. 



Antigone rubicunda. Broiga (Australian Crane). — Numerous, but 

 also suffering from the depredations of the fox. In drought time 

 they go to the prickly pear country, and subsist on the fruit. 



Threskiornis molucca. White Ibis. — Very numerous; breeding in 

 many parts of the watercourse, either among the sags or on poly- 

 gonum bushes, and recently we found them nesting in numbei's in 

 the koobah trees twelve or fifteen feet from the ground. 



Threskiornis spinicollis. Straw-necked Ibis. — Very numerous. There 

 are several large rookeries along the watercourse, where many thous- 

 ands nest on the polygonum bushes. Breeding lasts from October to 

 January if the water continues running. 



Platalea regia. Black-billed Spoonbill. — Numerous. Nests in com- 

 pany with Cormorants or Ibis; if with the former, chooses the highest 

 branches of the tall gum trees; if with the latter, is quite satisfied to 

 make a nest on a polygnum bush three or four feet above the water. 



Platalea flavipes. Yellow-billed Spoonbill. — Not as numerous as the 

 previous species; but like its relative, is satisfied to take a lowly or 

 elevated position for nesting, according to the habits of the otner birds 

 it is in company with, which are more often Pacific Herons and Cor- 

 morants than any other species. 



Xenorhynchus asiaticus. Jabiru. — This bird has been twice re- 

 corded, and although I did not see it personally, there can be no doubt 

 as to its identity by description. The last record was during the past 

 winter, when one was seen on the Mclntyre River during a flood. 



Notophoyx novse-hollandise. White-fronted Heron. — Very numerous. 

 During the present season they started building in July and continued 

 till December. 



