^•^I'^-^^-] 'Royal Aitsti'a/asiaii Ornithnlogisia' Union. 15I 



" New Records for South-\Vestt-rn Australia," by W. B. 



Alexander, Euiii, xv., p. 25, 1915. 

 " Procellanifornies in Western Australia," by W. B. Alex- 

 ander, Emu, XV., p. 182, 1916. 

 The following ornithologists have at various times contributed 

 notes which have appeared in The Emu :— A. W. Milligan, T. 

 Carter, D. Le Souef, S. Le Souef, C. P. Conigrave, E. A. Le Soui-f, 

 and W. B. Alexander. 



Early records of the natural history of Western AustraHa have 

 been collected by the writer and published in a series of articles 

 on " The History of Zoology in Western Australia " in the 

 Jouruid of the Royal Society of ]Vester)t Aitstralia. 



III. — Boundaries and Physiography. 



For the purposes of this paper the Swan River district may be 

 defined as that portion of Western Australia bounded on the east 

 by the Darling Range escarpment, on the north l^y the (iingin 

 Brook, and on the south by the Murray River. The islands off 

 the coast are also included. 



The district thus forms a portion of the coastal plain of Western 

 Australia, whose surface consists entirely of geologically recent 

 beds. Two main belts of country may be distinguished — first, 

 the sandy country extending from the foot of the Darling Ranges 

 to the coastal hills ; and, second, the hills of coastal limestone 

 running along the coast and in some cases actually separated 

 from the coast to form islands, of which the two principal ones 

 are Rottnest Island and Garden Island. 



The sandy country is partially covered with stunted jarrah 

 {Eucalyptus mayginata) and red gum (E. calopkylla) trees in its 

 drier parts, and has also stretches of fairly open heathy country. 

 Much of it is swampy, and in these parts, where water stands in 

 the winter, the characteristic trees are Christmas-tree [Nuytsia 

 floribunda) and paper-bark (Melaleuca). The coastal hills are 

 usually treeless on their summits near the sea, with peppermint- 

 trees {Agonis fie.xuosa) in the valleys. Their eastern slopes are 

 characterized by tuart {Eucalyptus gomphocephala), which, in 

 the valleys, grows into a fine forest tree. The line of junction 

 between the coastal hills and sandy plains is occupied by a series 

 of large swamps or lakes extending more or less continuously 

 from north to south, some of which have been drained since the 

 country was settled. They almost all are fringed with great 

 belts of reeds, and are thus magnificent homes for water-birds. 

 The best known of these lakes are Lake Yanchep, Lake Pinjar, 

 and Herdsman's Lake, but there are scores of smaller ones, and 

 the estuary of the Swan River itself no doubt occupies one of 

 these lake basins, from which an outlet has been cut to .the sea 

 at Fremantle, so that it is now salt. 



Four rivers flow across the district, coming down through gorges 

 in the Darling Ranges and flowing fairly directly across the plain. 



