1^4 Royal Australasian Ornithnlogisis' Union. [i^t^"inn 



our shores in winter — viz., the Giant Petrel, two or three species 

 of Dove-Petrels, Wandering Albatross, Yellow-nosed Mollymawk, 

 Southern Skua, and Austrahan Gannet. Five other southern 

 sea-birds have been met with once each — viz.. Crested Penguin, 

 Fleshy-footed Petrel, White-headed Petrel, Soft-plumaged Petrel, 

 and Grey-headed Mollymawk. Six birds which breed further 

 north occur regularly in the district in winter — viz., Red-kneed 

 Dottrel, White-headed Stilt, Banded Stilt, Red-necked Avocet, 

 White Egret, and Black-faced Wood-Swallow ; whilst two sea-birds 

 which breed on islands both north and south occur on our coast 

 in winter — viz.. White-faced Storm-Petrel and Alhed Petrel. 



The following species are irregular though fairly frequent visitors 

 to the district, viz. : — Stubble-Quail, Painted Quail, Little Quail, 

 Buff-banded Rail, Black-tailed Native-Hen, Tippet Grebe, Marsh 

 Tern, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Square-tailed Kite, Red-tailed 

 Black Cockatoo, and Tricoloured Chat. 



The rare occasional visitors include White-tailed Black Tern 

 (two records of irruptions of many individuals), Spotted Nightjar, 

 Painted Snipe and Glossy Ibis (2 records each), and White-backed 

 Swallow, Ground Cuckoo-Shrike, White-beUied Shrike-Tit, 

 WhistUng-Duck, Greater Frigate-Bird, Black-shouldered Kite, 

 and Black-eared Cuckoo (i record each). 



It is extremely probable that the apparent rarity of some of 

 these birds is due to the lack of observers, and that they will be 

 found to occur regularly in small numbers in some parts of the 

 district. 



Of the famiUes of birds represented on the Austrahan continent, 

 no less than 26 are unrepresented in the Perth district. Of these, 

 12 are mainly tropical, though some of them occur in the tropical 

 brushes of New South Wales as far south as the latitude of Perth ; 

 nevertheless, their absence is not surprising. The following 

 families which have representativ^es throughout Eastern Aus- 

 tralia are absent from the south-west, and therefore are not 

 represented in our list : — Glareolidce (Pratincole), Griiidce (Native 

 Companion), PlataleidcB (Spoonbills), Coraciida; (Dollar-Bird), 

 Turdidce (Thrushes), Alaiididcr (Bush-Lark), and Ptilonorhynchidce 

 (Bower-Birds). Lyre-Birds [Mcnuridce), being peculiar to 

 South-East Austraha, are also unrepresented, as are the Diving- 

 Petrels {Pelecanoididce). The Whitefaces (Paridce) are birds of 

 the interior, and their absence is not surprising. It is remark- 

 able, however, that the Mallee-Hen {Leipoa ocellata), the southern 

 representative of the Megapodiidcc, though it occurs inland from 

 Perth, and its range reaches the coast both north and south, does 

 not occur in the Swan River district. An even more surprising 

 gap is due to the entire absence of Finches (Ploceida). The 

 Red-eared Finch {Zonaginthus oculatus) occurs all along the south 

 coast of the State, whilst the Chestnut-eared Finch {Tceniopygia 

 castanotis) appears a short way inland, but neither reaches the 

 Swan River district. Can it be that the coastal plain has been 

 formed since the range of these l^rds became defined, and that 



