38 KiLGOUR, A Trip to the Ord River {N.-W.A.) [,sf"oct. 



generally limestone. The birds nest during the wet season, in 

 common with the majority of birds in the district. The nest 

 is placed in the forks of a bauhinia — sometimes, though rarely, 

 in a river-gum ; it is placed at a height of about lo or 12 feet, 

 roughly constructed of twigs, with a few eucalyptus leaves for 

 lining, and adjacent to water. One ^^^ is laid, very seldom 

 two. 



A large flock of Bare-eyed Cockatoos {Cacatiia gyiiinopis) 

 passed over the hotel before sundown every night, going to 

 their roosting-places in the hills. I estimated the number at 

 between sixty and seventy thousand. 



Horses being unprocurable at Wyndham, I was obliged to 

 accept a friendly ofTer of a lift with a party taking up some twenty 

 odd head of Western Australian " brumbies " to the Ord River 

 station, about 200 miles from Wyndham, where some friends 

 of mine would be able to let me have horses suitable to my work. 



The experiences of the trip, apart from the observations of 

 bird-life, would fill a book. Between shortness of " tucker," 

 half-broken horses, wet clothes and blankets, swimming flooded 

 rivers and wading for miles through swamp and bog, we 

 had quite sufficient to keep our minds occupied. However, 

 after some little trouble in mounting our horses, and with 

 the packs all secure, on the loth of April we started our 

 journey. The horses were bad to drive, and had such a dislike 

 to water that we were only enabled to travel about 10 miles 

 that day, the last four miles being through water of an even 

 depth of about 2 feet, and very heavy going. We camped on 

 a small stony rise known as the Twelve-Mile. Here I noticed 

 that several Ducks were nesting in the grass and undergrowth 

 between the rocks. Two nests were found, much incubated, of 

 the Whistling-Duck {Dcndrocycna arcuata), containing respect- 

 ively twelve and thirteen cream-coloured eggs. I also found 

 an egg of the Masked Plover {Lob iva it ell us miles) upon the bare 

 red ground within 30 feet of the edge of the swamp. At sun- 

 down large flocks of Whistlers passed overhead from the rough 

 country in the rear, going down to the swamp to. feed. In a 

 large channel of the swamp Pelicans {Pclicaiius conspicillatus), 

 Egrets {Mcsophoyx plumifera, Hcrodias timoriensis, and Gar- 

 zetta nigripes), Black T)uc\<is {Anas superciliosd). Pigmy Geese 

 {Ncttopus pidchcllus). White and Straw-necked Ibises {Ibis 

 nioliicca and Carphibis spinicollis\ and the Herons Notophoyx 

 novcE-hoUandicT' and A^. pacifica were to be seen. 



After some horse-hunting in the morning we got all our 

 charges mustered and packed up. The next 10 miles was through 

 a continuous swamp with deep channels through it ; and what 

 a sight for an ornithologist ! Everywhere were to be seen the 

 heaps of reeds that had formed the nests of the Pied Goose 

 {Anseranas scmipabnota), while in and around the channels 

 and pools were hundreds of the Egrets before mentioned ; but 

 the most plentiful of the lot were the interesting Pied and Allied 



