180 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



not infrequently chosen by the birds for their eyry — a steep rock 

 in a lovely lake, only to be reached after a long swim through 

 chilly water, or the summit of a very tall tree — their fierceness in 

 defence of their young and eggs is not to be despised. Men 

 and boys have had their head gashed by the sharp claw of the 

 angry parent when in a precarious position, rendering the enter- 

 prise formidable. But the prize is worthy of the danger." 



My experience with a dozen nests was, for the most part, on 

 absolutely flat coral debris and guano, slightly clothed with salt- 

 bush. There was no climbing to be done to get at the nests ; 

 I had simply to look into the nest and bend down to touch the 

 eggs or young. In one case only I had to stand on tip-toe to 

 see into the nest. It had been built of sticks, nearly 7 feet high, 

 and in the form of a truncated cone. The owners soared or 

 flapped overhead, and made a somewhat desolate kind of noise. 

 They succeeded in impressing me only so far as differing very 

 little from ordinary hawks. Certainly their nests were prodigious, 

 and, being too large for any shrub to hold, the ground formed their 

 resting-places. I stood in one and sat in another just to feel that 

 I had been there, but the sanitary arrangements were not good 

 enough to induce one to repeat the doubtful pleasure. The nests 

 mostly contained young from about 10 days old to the fully- 

 formed fledgling. 



A flock of a bird that breeds in Siberia and winters in Aus- 

 tralia, the Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, Linn., added life to the 

 land uncovered by the tide. They chatted and chased one 

 another as if petty jealousies were seriously amongst them. A 

 silent Reef Heron, Demiegretta sacra, Gmelin, of the blue phase, 

 quietly stood upon a jutting rock as if watching them. Turn- 

 stones fly very quickly — more rapidly than Snipe or Quail. Quail 

 were numerous on the West Wallaby Island, but in the hurry 

 of trying to find an Eagle's nest, Haliaetus leucogaster, Gmelin, 

 I lost the opportunity to identify the species. It appeared to be 

 the Painted Quail, Turnix varia. I found single fresh eggs 

 beneath the bushes, and perhaps enough to indicate the breeding 

 season had commenced (25th October). On the evening of that 

 day I rowed the dingy on to a patch of high dry coral debris, 

 running upon which sounded like the noise one could imagine a 

 goat in a porcelain shop would make. A few salt-bushes had 

 grown upon it, and in the mesembryanthemum was delicately 

 placed a neat nest of the White-eye or Silver-eye, Zosterops gouldi, 

 B'parte. It was made of marine weed, and contained fresh eggs. 

 Altogether it was a novelty, in keeping here, with everything 

 ground-loving. A little Robin, Petrceca goodenovii, Vig. and 

 Hors., had probably been blown from the mainland, for on 

 Pelsart Island it looked disconsolate. Another stranger, the 

 Rufous Song-Lark, Cinclorhamphus rufescens, Vig. and Hors., 



