^°''ifi7^''] ^^^ Souiii-, Auslralian Ibises. g5 



Although both species nest in separate rookeries, yet as a rule 

 odd couples of the other variety nest with them ; probably they 

 could not locate their own company — anyhow, they agree 

 together. 



Their food consists mostly of grasshoppers, as well as fresh- 

 water snails (which are frequently the host of liver fluke), beetles, 

 and caterpillars. The enormous amount of insect life that is 

 eaten by these useful birds is difficult to realize, as by actual 

 counting I found that the contents of the stomach of one of them 

 contained 2,410 young grasshoppers, 5 fresh- water snails, several 

 caterpillars, and some coarse gravel, in all weighing 4J ounces. 



It is impossible to estimate the value of the good work these 

 birds do for the grazier and farmer ; it is beyond our comprehension. 

 Last season was a wet one in southern Australia, and the Ibis 

 took full advantage of it and nested in many places — probably 

 considerably over one million of these splendid birds were added 

 to the Ibis population of Australia. The birds fly well and strongly, 

 and often at a great height, and they are probably, without ex- 

 ception, the most useful birds Australia possesses. 



White^winged Black Terns in Western Australia : 



a Remarkable Visitation. 



By W. B. Alexander, M.A., R.A.O.U. 



The White-winged Black Tern [Hydrochelidon leucoptera, Temm.) 

 breeds in the lakes and marshes of Southern Europe and Central 

 Asia, from Spain to China. In winter it migrates southwards 

 into the tropics, and is met with, on the coasts and lakes of Africa, 

 India, and the Malay Archipelago. The first record of its 

 occurrence in Australia was made by Gould in the Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society in 1866, he having received specimens said 

 to have been obtained at Cape York. Some doubt was thrown 

 on the authenticity of this record, but the fact that the bird was 

 an occasional visitor to Northern Australia was established on 

 the publication of the " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," 

 since, in addition to Gould's specimens, the Museum contains a 

 skin obtained at Cape York by Captain Stanley on the voyage 

 of the Rattlesnake in November, 1849, and two skins obtained by 

 Elsey on the ^^ictoria River, Northern Territory, in March, i85(). 

 There are also in the British. Museum skins of a pair from Nelson, 

 New Zealand, procured on 12th December, 1868. Mathews, in 

 his " Birds of Australia," gives his opinion that the authenticity 

 of these New Zealand birds and of one of Gould's from Cape York 

 must be rejected, since they are in full breeding plumage, and he 

 states that after examination of a long series of skins he has 

 found no other birds shot in the winter (of the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere) in the breeding plumage. 



