1^2 Royal Austvdlasian Onii/li(iloi;is/s' Utn'nii. \_:a"'iiii 



assistance' during Mr. J.loyd's absence. The Western Australian 

 Government again kindly granted me a permit to collect birds 

 for scientific purposes, Dirk Hartog being a faunal reserve. To 

 complete my account I have made frequent reference to Mr. T. 

 Carter's notes. Possibly not all readers of The Emu have had 

 the opportmiity of studying them. I shall frequently refer in 

 the ensuing notes to Mons. J. Arago's account of the voyage of 

 the Uranie. I am indebted to Lieut. -Col. Battye, of the Perth 

 Tree Library, for hunting up this old work.* 



Species and Observations. f 



Dromaius novae-hollandiae. Emu. — A few pairs breed on Pcron 

 Peninsula. Mons. Arago, when he was searching for his lost ship- 

 mates, saw two large birds. " I was fainting with fatigue," he 

 writes, " when at half-past one I saw two birds that I took for 

 Cassowaries, to which I gave chase, but to mv regret I could not come 

 up with them." This encounter must ha\e been near what is now 

 called the " Big Lagoon." The Vraiiie was at anchor off Cape 

 Lesueur, and a party had landed to make researches, and also to 

 run the ship's condensing outfit, as a search for fresh water had 

 proved fruitless. Digging above high water mark for water does 

 not seem to have been tried. 



Leipoa ocellata. Mallee-Fowl. — According to Mr. T. Carter, this 

 species still lingers on Peron Peninsula. I saw no old mounds 

 suggestive of its presence. 



(?) Turnix velox. Swift Quail. — On mv first visit to Dirk Hartog 

 T flushed one or two small Quail, but did not obtain one. I caught 

 a glinfpse of a small bird just disappearing behind a mass of spinifex. 

 near the West well, in .August last. This bird looked very much like 

 Tiiniix velox. 



Piiflinus sphenurus. Wedge-tailed Petrel. — I only saw this species 

 in Shark Bay when sailing over to Dirk Hartog on 13th October. 

 Mr. Carter gives an interesting account of a visit to Slope Island — 

 a small, rocky islet adjacent to the Heirrison Peninsula. The birds were 

 breeding in November under a mass of dense bushes, there being no 

 earth on the is'et in which to make their burrows. 



Sylochelidon caspia. Cas])ian Tern. — Pairs of this fine Tern were 

 seen on almost all ])arts of the coast-line. 1 believe they breed on 

 Bird Island, a small, sandv islet near the Quoin Bluff, on the east side 

 of Dirk Hartog. 



Sterna cristata. Crested Tern. — Not so common as the foregoing 

 species, and T did not heaii of any breeding colony. However, Terns 

 are all grouped together as " Divers " hx the j^carlers and others 

 around Sliark Bay. 



* ■■ Narration of a \'oyage Round the World in the Unniic and I'hy^icionic 

 Corvettes, commanded by Captain Freycinet, during the years 181 7 to i82t', 

 on a Scientific Expedition undertaken by order of the French Government, 

 in a Series of Letters to a Friend," fn- J. Arago, Draughtsman to the Expedi- 

 tion. To which is prefixed the Report made to the .Academy of Sciences on 

 the General Results of the Expedition. London : Trentel and Wurtz, 1S23. 



t Except in recentlv discovered birds, nomenclature is in accordance with 

 R.A.O.U. Check-Ust. ' 



