^"'io^^'^'] Rovcil Austrahisian Ornitholof^isis' Union. jy^ 



After a scaixli ol' a I'lw minutes T found a beautiful pair of holdlv- 

 blotched egjjs willi a rather dark background. There was no nesi . 

 the eggs being laid amongst some blocks of limestone. 



At the Ten-mile well were several jiairs. I was cam])ed in a 

 boundary-rider's hut. and at night Stone-Curlews came within a 

 few yards ol the door. 1 think one ])air bred about a quarter of a 

 mile away on a limestone oulcro]i. Inil I tear the Crows got their eggs. 

 I observed a jiartv ot the latter mobbing one of the parent birds. 

 In walking out to tlie Quoin Blutf, where the Pied Cormorants bred, 

 I twice nearlv walked o\er a Stone-Curlew. T searched in vain for 

 another nest. 



Eupodotis australis. Bustard or Wild Turkey. — T'Vequenlly seen 

 on Dirk Hartog. and occasionally near the I^ittle I^agoon on Peron 

 Peninsula. On the island I seldom walked from my camp to the 

 homestead without seeing a young male bird. By cautious tracking 

 I often got within a few yards of this individual. At the Ten-mile 

 I met with a party of three — male, female, and a nearly full grown 

 young l:)ird. The male was a verv fine liird. and exhibited much pale 

 grey in the tiight feathers. .\t the hotel in Denham I was shown 

 several locallv-pi'ocured eggs. 



Demiegretta sacra. Reef-Heron. — .\ few pairs found around rocky 

 ))oints on Dirk Hartog Island. Near Notch Point a portion ot the 

 cliff had been undermined and had fallen forward. Between the 

 fallen mass, weighing many tons, and the cliff was a fissure wide enough 

 to pass easily through. In various cavities were three nests of the 

 Reef-Heron, but only one was occupied at the time of my visit ; 

 this contained two incubated eggs (7th August). The sitting bird 

 nearly flew in my face. I had walked silently along the sandy floor 

 ol the fissure and surprised her on the nest. 



Phalacrocorax hypoleucus. Pied Cormorant. — Two large breeding 

 colonies exist on Dirk Hartog Island — viz., at the Quoin Blutf and 

 at another headland to the north, generally known as " Shag Mia." 

 The Pied Cormorant is one of the most conspicuous birds in Shark 

 Bay, and, if interesting, is generally regarded as a nuisance. One 

 reason for its unpopularity is its fiabit of perching on the pearling 

 luggers, which are polluted by its limy excreta. Some owners have 

 gone to the troul)le of erecting perches in the water in the hope that 

 the birds would prefer them to the jib-booms or gunwales of the 

 luggers ; but the birds are so numerous that the nuisance was not 

 much abated by this device. Others, again, resorted to having a cat 

 on board ; but this, too, had its disadvantages. Owing to the 

 shallow water the fleet has to anchor nearly half a mile from the 

 shore . 



When camped at the Ten-mile well I several times walked out to 

 visit the colony on the Quoin Bluff. The upper part of this prominent 

 headland consists of perpendicular limestone cliff, the haunt of a 

 few pairs of Kestrels. The lower portion of the cliff is a slope at an 

 angle of about 35^. Walking about this slope is not difficult, owing 

 to the earth being soft and ensuring an easy foothold. The Cor- 

 morants were nesting here in great numbers, occupying an' extent of 

 nearly a quarter of a mile of the face of the headland. The nests, 

 as a rule, were in groups of greater or lesser numbers, and I found and 

 photographed a group of nests actually on the summit of the cliff. 

 The vast majority of nests contained well-grown voung, many ')n 



