8 MiLLIGAN, Notes on a Trip to the Wongan Hills, W.A. [j^f 'j"iy 



quandongs. On another occasion I was in a similar perplexity 

 as regarded certain " jam " or acacia trees which were growing 

 up the clear gorge where we were camped, and which was the 

 only place in summer where fresh water was obtainable. These 

 trees were the only ones in the Hills, and as a fact the locality 

 was not what is known in Western Australia as " jam " country, 

 trees of that species being found on a widely different location. 

 There seemed no solution of the problem until I heard the 

 trumpet-coo of a Bronze-wing near our tents. The reason for the 

 presence of the jam trees at once became apparent. The Bronze- 

 wing was the distributing agency. The seeds of this acacia form 

 the staple food of the birds. Doubtless some of these birds, 

 having visited the trees in the proper " jam " areas and fed largely 

 upon the seeds, had flown to and quenched their thirst at the 

 spring in the gorge, and then stayed for the night in the locality. 

 The undigested seeds would be deposited, and grow in due 

 season. By these means birds unconsciously provide for certain 

 future seasonal food supplies, and at the same time add certain 

 vegetable forms to a particular district where such forms are 

 not present, and also perpetuate the same forms in districts where 

 they are present, but where the growth of young trees in the 

 shelter of parent trees would tend to the exhaustion and ultimate 

 extermination of both. We meet the same distributing agents 

 in the Mistletoe-Birds {Dicceum hirundinaceum) who in a like 

 manner carry and deposit the glutinous-covered seed of the 

 mistletoe from tree to tree and from district to district. 



List of Birds. — Appended is a list of birds taken or observed 

 during the trip : — 



Uroaetus AUDAX (Wedge-tailed Eagle). — Saw one pair only. 



HiERACIDEA BERIGORA (Striped Brown Hawk). — Not common. Shot a 

 fledgling. 



Cerchneis CENCHROIDES (Kestrel). — Not common. 



NiNOX BOOBOOK (Boobook Owl). — Heard at night near camp. 



CoRONE AUSTRALIS (Raven). — Numerous. Nest with young near camp. 



Strepera PLUMBEA (Leaden Crow-Shrike). — Not common. 



Grallina picat.a. (Magpie-Lark). — Not numerous. Only seen near 

 settlements. 



Collyriocincla RUFIVENTRIS (Buff-bellied Shrike-Thrush). — Faiiiy 

 common. 



GraUCALUS MELANOPS (Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike). — Not numerous. 



Lalage tricolor (White-shouldered Caterpillar-eater). — Very numerous 

 everywhere. 



MicRCECA ASSIMILIS (Lesser Brown Flycatcher). — Fairly numerous every- 

 where along route. 



Petrceca campbelli. — Sec article. 



Petrceca GOODENOVI (Red-capped Robin). — Not numerous. See article. 

 Shot one with red throat. 



