Vol. XVII. 



igi7 



1 Macgillivray, Ornithologists in North Queensland. 65 



so caused soon fill. Trees fall frequently in the wet season, and 

 often drag a lot of others with them. This is due to the fact 

 that dry rot, proceeding apace, with the depredations of insects, 

 in some great tree during the dry time has so weakened the stem 

 that when the wet season sets in the rush of sap to the topmost 

 branches, and the renewed growth and activity in the climbers 

 borne by it, with the superadded weight when every part is 

 saturated with moisture, adds so enormously to the weight borne 

 by it that it gives way. 



What is known as the open forest consists of a fairly open 

 growth of large trees — eucalypts, melaleuca, and others — with 

 no under-scrub, the ground being covered with coarse grasses 

 and herbage, with a few small shrubs and trailers. It was to a 

 knoll in a patch of open forest overlooking the Claudie, with 

 tropical scrub to the right and left and all along the opposite 

 bank, that Mr. M'Lennan, now with only one companion, Alfred 

 Mohr, moved his camp early in September. It was here also that 

 I joined him. together with Mr. Kershaw, of the National Museum, 

 Melbourne, and my son Ian, on the 5th November, and spent the 

 rest of the month very profitably in exploring the neighbourhood 

 under his able guidance. This camp was our main base ; 

 another camp, 7 miles further up stream, being occupied for a 

 few days at a time, as the scrubs and forest were of particular 

 interest there. The sandalwood landing three miles down- 

 stream, and on the opposite bank, was a convenient spot from 

 which we could search the mangroves and tea-tree swamps and 

 the heathy country at the back of them. 



During this early part of our stay the dry season had lasted later 

 than usual. The coarse grass of the forest lands was dry, the 

 scrubs were wilted and droopy, and one walked through the more 

 open ones on a carpet of dry and crackling leaves. The Claudie 

 ran a diminished stream to the sea, and the salt tide was making 

 its influence felt up to and beyond our camp, so that we had to 

 row and pole our way further up stream in order to replenish our 

 supplies of fresh water. 



We had previously arranged with Mr. Giblett to take us out 

 to the islands along the coast and along the Barrier Reef as far 

 as Raine Island, in order that we might investigate the bird-life 

 on them. Consequently, we left Lloyd's Island on the 30th 

 November in the lugger Keats, fitted for beche-de-mer fishing, and 

 manned by a crew of thirteen aboriginals and commanded by a 

 half-caste captain. These blacks are recruited from the coastal 

 tribes, who for generations have found their living along the 

 shore and on the islands off the coast, and are all expert 

 swimmers and divers. 



After passing Cape Restoration we bore out towards the Reef, 

 our objective being Quoin Island, a rocky island about a quarter 

 of a mile in length and of half that width, rising at its highest point 

 about 50 feet above the sea-level. Numbers of birds were 

 hovering over it and settling at one end, mostly Sterna amestheta 



