68 With the British Association in Australia. [Ibis, 



looked as i£ it were perched or squatting in the fork as a 

 Wood-pigeon does, and little or nothing of a nest was visible. 

 My luck held right up to tlie station, for a couple of Long- 

 billed Cockatoos (Licmetis nasica) Hew over the road in 

 full view not long before we reached our destination. 



From Melbourne I took the evening train to Adelaide, 

 where I had time next morning to revisit Mr. Ashby's 

 garden at Blackwood for a few hours, and see, in addition 

 to old friends, a small party of the Fire-tailed Finch (Zona- 

 ginthus bellus) feeding on some newly dug soil. Meanwhile 

 some of my future shipmates met with an Oystercatcher 

 and other waders on the shore at Port Adelaide, but I did 

 not hear of this in time to join them. 



The return journey to England was more remarkable for 

 the watch kept for the 'Emden ' and ' Konigsberg ' than for 

 ornithological experiences. We had, however, a day in the 

 primeval scrub at Perth, in Western Australia, among the old- 

 world Cycads and the peculiar Kangaroo's-paw plant, which 

 was in full flower, but met with no birds that we identified 

 positively in the short time at our disposal. On the actual 

 voyage we were accompanied for a time by the Wandering, 

 Black-browed, White-capped, Yellow-nosed, and Sooty 

 Albatrosses (Diomedea exulans, D. melanophrys, D. cauta, 

 D. chlororhynchus, and Phoebetria palpebrata)^ the Cape 

 Petrel [Daption capensis), the Mutton Bird [Puffinus brevi- 

 caudus), Wilson's Petrel (^Oceanites oceanicus), and no doubt 

 other species which I did not observe personally. Crested 

 Terns, Bridled Terns, Gulls (Pacific and Silver), and the 

 Common Cormorant were noticed as we left Fremantle ; 

 and a Frigate Petrel {Pelagodroma marina) was caught on 

 board later and identified. Tropic-birds, Frigate-birds, and 

 Black Kites belong to the part of our journey nearer to 

 Colombo and the few migrants that boarded us chiefly 

 occurred in the Mediterranean, while no birds were seen 

 that are not usually encountered by the traveller through 

 those seas in autumn. In niitl-October we landed safely in 

 England. 



