Vol. III. 

 1904 



CAMPBELL, Another Decade in Australian Oology. 171 



buceroides (Helmeted Friar-Bird) are characteristically different 

 from those of the rest of the genus. 



Possibly all the Wood-Swallows have been termed Artami 

 without sufficient oological evidence. There appear to be three 

 types — (1), sordidus stands alone, (2) superciliosus and personatus 

 are closely allied, (3) the remaining species are characteristically 

 alike. 



Cuckoos are always puzzling creatures. Amongst the beautiful 

 Bronze-Cuckoos, should not those that deposit pinkish-speckled 

 eggs be generically distinct from those which deposit uniform 

 brownish or olive-coloured eggs ? At present both kinds are 

 placed in the same genus — Chalcococcyx. 



Of course, it is exceedingly difficult to treat Parrots and 

 Pigeons oologically, because they all lay white, or nearly so, 

 eggs, but microscopic examination of the shell and the different 

 number of eggs to a normal clutch will greatly assist classification. 

 Then, if nestlings be considered, the large and splendid genus 

 Platycercus would probably be divided — those that wear the 

 parents' plumage from the nest, as in the common Rosella, against 

 those that take three or four seasons to don full plumage, as in 

 the handsome Crimson (Pennant) Parrakeet. 



In the family Raliidce, the eggs of the Crakes differ considerably. 

 Those of the Spotted Crake (Porzana jiuminea), being more 

 Rail-like, differ from those of the Little Crake (P. palustris) and 

 Spotless Crake (P. tabuensis). 



To conclude for the present these somewhat crude suggestions, 

 I may say with regard to the graceful sub-family Sternince 

 (Terns), that if a systematic study be carefully made of the genus 

 Sterna there may be reasons found for separating 5. fuliginosa 

 and 5. ancestheta, which lay reddish-mottled eggs, with glossy- 

 surfaced shell, from the other members of the genus laying 

 olive-marked eggs with surfaces more or less matt or dull. 



Birds Occurring in the Region of the Norths West 



Cape. 



By Thomas Carter. 

 Part III. 



(90.) Cacatua gymnopis (Bare-eyed Cockatoo, Kogga-je). — This noisy 

 and conspicuous bird occurs in great flocks along the beds of the larger 

 watercourses and rivers, which are fringed with white gums. About the 

 end of October, when most of the young birds are fledged, immense flocks 

 may be seen, and their clamour is occasionally deafening and annoying. 

 As almost all the natives in the district are now regularly employed and 

 fed on the stations, they do not trouble much to secure the young birds, 

 which were formerly much sought after by them and considered a great 

 dainty. Flocks occasionally visited the coast south of Point Cloates, at a 

 point about 25 miles from the nearest inland creek. Such casual visits 

 were usually made in the winter months, May or June. At the Yardie 

 Creek considerable numbers were resident, breeding in holes and crevices 



