492 INIr. C. P. Couigrave on the Bird-life of 



showing no fear. In one of the lagoons as many as six pairs 

 came up to me, and every pair consisted of a larger clear 

 grey bii'd, as described, and a smaller brown one. 



Mr. Hobbs and also Mr. Aylwin of Jente Grande, who 

 are both observers of birds, told me that these Ducks often 

 made their nests at a considerable distance from the water. 



Besides their usual flight, these birds have a way of flying 

 over the water, just touching it or striking it with the tips 

 of their wings ; but this is quite a different way of pro- 

 gressing from that of Tachyeres cinereus, which cannot 

 raise itself above the water. 



I saw this species only in Tierra del Fuego, and did not 

 meet with a single specimen in the Smith Channel and more 

 to the north. 



1 have seen skins of this species in the Britisli Museum 

 and the Leyden Museum from the Falklands, and there is 

 a splendidly mounted pair in the Museum of Buenos Ayris 

 Irom Tierra del Fuego. 



XXIV. — On the Bird-life of Houtman's Abrolhos Islands, 

 Western Australia. By Charles Pkice Conigrave, 

 F.R.G.S., M.R.A.O.U. 



(PlutesXV.-XVIII.) 



Lying some fifty miles ofl* the mainland of Western 

 Australia is an archipelago o£ small islands known as 

 Houtman's Abrolhos which have been very intimately 

 connected with the early history of Australia. They were 

 first discovered by Frederic van Houtman in the year 

 1605, and their name, Abrolhos, is a contraction of three 

 Portuguese words, " abri vossos olhos,'' meaning keep your 

 eyes open, owing to the danger they were to the early 

 navigators when making their way from the Cape to Java. 

 They were the scene of the wreck of Capt. Pelsart's ship 

 the ' Batavia ' in 1629, and the mutiny of part of his crew 

 under Jerome Cornells, his supercargo. The largest of the 

 islands is called after the ill-fated Dutch Captain. 



