THE BIRDS OF CHARLEVILLE. 23 
THE BIRDS OF CHARLEVILLE: 
BY 
KENDAL BROADBENT. 
(Read on 8th Fanuary, 1886.) 
[It is with pleasure that I seek this opportunity of laying before the 
Society the following compilation founded on a perusal of the notes made 
and on an examination of the specimens procured by Mr. Kendal Broadbent, 
Zoological Collector of the Queensland Museum, one whose extensive 
knowledge of the birds of Australia, unsurpassed by few, is well estab- 
lished.—HeEnry Tryon. | 
WHILST engaged in collecting the animals of the Charleville 
District, lavailed myself of the opportunity afforded of becom- 
ing acquainted with the birds which occur there, of most 
of which indeed I procured examples. The present review 
relates to such species as are to be met with in this district 
during the latter part of August and throughout the two 
succeeding months, and, moreover, in a very dry season. This 
latter consideration will suggest the fact that this enumera- 
tion will include such birds as are permanent residents in the 
locality of Charleville during the period which my observa- 
tions embrace, and though it can be regarded as a small 
contribution only to the avifauna of the district, I am 
nevertheless persuaded that any information relating to the 
birds of the interior of Australia, meagre though it be, is 
worthy of being placed on record. 
Charleville is a pastoral township, 520 miles west of 
Brisbane, on the Warrego River, and is situated in the 
centre of a generally level country. At the time of my visit 
the river was represented by a chain of water-holes, miles 
apart, and fast drying up, connected by a dry river-bed of 
shingle or sand. This river-bed is often very wide, and 
includes patches of loamy soil, which at some seasons form 
islands, on which grow lofty eucalypts, tea-tree (Welaleuca), 
and other low shrubs of similar habit. The river is bounded 
on either side, often to the extent of half-a-mile, by flats of 
dark soil, on which also large eucalypts grow scattered here 
and there. Beyond this tract of alluvial land, and at a 
slightly higher level, sandy country occurs, extending 
