.1 Bird Collccfor's JJ'aiuicrings. 65 



OTHER NEW IJIKDS. 

 " Mr. Roijcrs has also added a new snipe calleil llie pin-tailed to our 

 li^l of l)ird.s. Tile onlcr tail featiier> are thin and narrow, and thus the 

 name. lie has provided nie witli several skins ot the rare white i[uilled 

 pi.i,'eon, of whicl: onl\ one oi- two specimens had ever heen seeured helore. 

 and is the onl\ man wh'> hat' ever collected the chestnut-hellied rail and 

 supplied the scieniilic world with notes concerning it.s life history. We 

 are indebted to Mr. Rogers for all that is known regarding- this bird, 

 which is about the .size of the waterhen common on this coast. 



1'R1.\C1<:SS .VLEXANUR.X l'.\kRAKEl':T. 



" Last year on the most southerly point of the ritzroy River Mr. 

 Rogers had the good fonnne to come across a llock of Princess Alexandra 

 parrakeets. and .secured tome. This is the most beautiful and delicately 

 coloured of all the parrakeet family, with very long and narrow tail 

 feathers. A fully-grown bird has a total length of about 17 inches, 

 of which the tail fonns about 11 inches. They inhabit dry and sterile 

 country, such as is avoided as far as possible by man, and hence are 

 not often met with." 



" The most common parrots in the nor'-west are the crimson-winged, 

 which is not so big as the king parrot, and the nor'-west form of what 

 ' is known in New South Wales as the lilue Mountain. Galahs are 

 ' connnon on the river frontages, and near water, but not in the dry 

 ' country. The wood swallow is to be found in all classes of country, 

 ' and finches are exceedingly numerous in some seasons, as well as 

 ' pigeons, doves and plovers. The natives have a name for the plover 

 ' that exactly describes its call — ' w-eeloo.' 



GREAT-HILLKD COCKATOO. 



" The nor'-west is the habitat of the great-billed black cockatoo. 

 ' It is half as big again as the ordinary black cockatoo, with a tremendous 

 ' beak that has got clutchmg power. \\oe betide the unfortunate person 

 ' whose finger or hand got caught in this cruel vyce. Small branches 

 ' are lopped o& by this great-billed bird with the greatest ease. It feeds 

 ' on the native chestnut, and you can hear the sharp click made in breaking 

 ' the nuts 70 or 80 yards away." 



SMALLEST OF THE TITS. 



" Among other unique species in this part is the smallest bird in 

 ' Australia, and one of the smallest in the world. It is the tree tit. It 

 ' is not the size of a man's thumb. The body of this diminutive creature 

 ■' without its tiny tail is hardly as large as the top joint of one's little finger. 

 " It is smaller than mo.^t of thj hunmiiiig birds." 



MYSTERIOUS xMIGRATIONS. 



" Another inhabitant of these parts is the black-tailed native hen. 

 " about the size of a bantam, which, like the Princess Alexandra parrakeet, 



