123 Mr. R. Hall on Birds 



spent in that vast area, tlie timber of which seemed to nie 

 too heavy for any other purpose with regard to bird-life than 

 to hide its representatives. I was slightly more fortunate at 

 Tor Bay, which is midway between Albany and Denmark, 

 and less heavily wooded. It being more or less rainy in that 

 district for eight months of the year, the birds partial to a 

 dam[) atmosphere congregate there. After leaving Albany 

 for Katanning, the wet country changes at Mt. Earker, some 

 fifty miles from the coast, and the Acacia known as the 

 '' Raspberry -jam Tree" becomes the prevailirjg timber. 

 Katanning is the centre of a Hat area bearing the '^ jam'^ tree, 

 and possessing an occasional supply of water. This is just 

 suited to the Yellow-throated Minah [Manorhina flavigula). 

 Some eighteen miles west of Katanning i^ a creek that 

 attracts a certain number of species tliroughout the year, 

 and to the east of it is a shallow lake that furnishes a variety 

 of bird-life at certain seasons. Near Perth a naturalist can 

 profitably spend some time, and an outing of three or four 

 miles will take him to something worth seeing. Even in the 

 picturesque suburb of South Perth Banksias are still to be 

 met with and Honey- eaters are numerous. Within a mile of 

 the Zoological Garden a Haliastur sphenurus had, I found, 

 built its nest. Geraldton, where I spent a week, is the 

 south western sea-port of the arid country, and one need 

 only walk along the deep dry bed of a river to find that bird- 

 life is there associated with hot air. The Meli^jhagidae are 

 abundant, while the flora is, as elsewhere, magnificent in 

 spring. 



The Abrolhos are coral-islands which sea-birds haunt in 

 abundance. A cruise through them will ensure success to 

 the explorer. As these notes will so often refer to specimens 

 collected on the Houtman's Albrohos, I will give (see 

 Appendix), along with some nesting-data, a list of the birds 

 found there. Two such have been previously published — one, 

 in 1890, by Mr. A. J. Campbell, and a second, in 1898, by 

 Mr. R. Helms *. The latter list included all the species 

 given in the former with two additions {Anthus uustralis and 

 * ' Producer's Gazette of Western Australia,' v. p. U. 



