20 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



the thin straggling bushes, or more generally still the roots and 

 leaves of the Pandanus Palms. But the principal bird on the 

 island was the Torres Strait Pigeon, Garpophaga spilorrhoa, and 

 they were nesting there in thousands, and we got quite confused 

 when going through the mangroves by the noise the birds made 

 flying off their nests and away through the thick leaves of the 

 trees above, and we were glad to return to the beach out of their 

 immediate neighbourhood ; their nests were everywhere and all 

 sizes, some only a few sticks, but by far the larger majority were 

 much more bulky, being composed of green twigs with the leaves 

 left on, and on the Barnard and other islands where I have found 

 large numbers of these birds nesting I have noticed the same 

 thing, and rarely found a fragile nest, as most other pigeons build. 

 We noticed either one egg or one young one in each nest, and I 

 have never yet seen two, although I have looked carefully. 

 Visitors from Cooktown occasionally come to these islands during 

 the breeding season to shoot pigeons, but it seems great cruelty 

 when practically all are nesting. There was the continual, unin- 

 terrupted sound of cooing all day long all over the island, which 

 will give some idea of the great number of birds needed to 

 produce it. A few of the eggs were fresh, but most were sat on, 

 and some of the young pigeons were commencing to fly. Varied 

 Honey-eaters, PtUotis versicolor, were plentiful, and their cheerful 

 note often heard ; a few pairs of Azure Kingfishers, Alcyone 

 azurea, were seen, and they nested in the dead hollow branches 

 of the Pandanus Palm, and one pair of Barred-Shouldered Doves, 

 Geopelia humeralis, were noticed, and a Northern Fantail, 

 Rhipidura setosa. Circling above our heads were a pair of young 

 White-bellied Sea Eagles, Halicetus leucogaster, and the nest found 

 on which they had been hatched, situated on a big mangrove 

 tree. On climbing up, remains of terns and other sea birds were 

 noticed, that the young had been evidently fed on ; the parent 

 birds were not seen. On a log near the shore was evidently the 

 favourite feeding place of these birds, as quite a heap of bones, 

 feathers, &c, was found that these eagles had evidently eaten 

 there. There were plenty of crabs among the broken coral and 

 mud under the mangroves, and they often excavated good-sized 

 holes to take refuge in, and the material they had taken out 

 formed a small mound round the entrance. The water was 

 shallow for a long way out and beautifully clear. Close to the 

 shore the sun made the water quite hot. Mr. F. Hislop and the 

 black boy speared a few fish. 



The dead coral looks very dirty and portions soon get broken, 

 but most of it is very hard and rough, and heaps of it get washed 

 up on the shore by the action of the waves. There were very few 

 shells and those mostly broken. As the coral grows nearer to the 

 surface of the sea portions get exposed to the hot sun at low tide. 



