182 Macgillivray, Ornithologists in North Queensland. [,sfA"rii 



though able to fly quite well, were being fed by the parent birds. 

 Many were soaring overhead with adult birds, and these latter were 

 very numerous, and constantly on the watch to deprive incoming 

 Gannets of their fish. All three species of Gannets are made to 

 disgorge, and we frequently witnessed encounters between a Frigate- 

 Bird and a home-coming Gannet. The Gannet often manages to 

 elude its adversary by flying low to the ground, but even then they 

 are sometimes forced to drop the fish on the ground, when the 

 Frigate-Bird will alight, pick it up and swallow it, and rise again into 

 the air. They find no difficulty in rising from the ground. They 

 sometimes soar at a great height, and I have counted as many as 

 40 at different elevations directly over our tent, and there were many 

 more aH round the islet. Mr. Kershaw and I kept our eyes on one 

 that passed overhead, sailing with outstretched wings, without any 

 perceptible movement. He sailed down to the other end of the 

 islet, gradually rising higher, then went round several times, and 

 once half-closed his wings to descend about 50 feet ; then spread them 

 out and resumed his sailing flight, never at any time flapping his 

 wings. The only time that they do so is when they are buffeting a 

 Gannet to make it disgorge, or on rising from the ground. When 

 flying the tail is mostly closed like a large pair of scissors with in- 

 curving blades meeting at the base and tips. The legs are carried 

 on either side. 



To show that, powerful fliers as they are, they are not equal to a 

 war with the elements, I will quote the following note from Mr. H. G. 

 Vidgen, made on 31st December, 191 3, at Paira, Cape York: — 

 " The wind was of hurricane force ; it blew down trees in numbers and 

 covered the ground with a debris of limbs and twigs. For two days 

 it was so bad that the Frigate-Birds were knocked out. They used 

 to rest on the mangroves in a sheltered spot in our bay by spreading 

 out their wings and lying across twigs and leaves. The birds were 

 present in hundreds — a thing I have not seen before." 



The fully-plumaged young on Raine Islet were dark brown, with 

 a dirty whitish patch on the chest, the head of the male being fawn- 

 coloured, and of the female rufous. In both the iris is brown, bill 

 and gular pouch bluish-white, feet fleshy-white. 



Female. — Total' length 790 mm., wing 570 mm., culmen no mm. 

 Male. — ^Length 790 mm., wing 565 mm., culmen 100 mm. 



Three eggs collected by Mr. M'Lennan in 191 1 measure as follows 

 in mm. : — 



(i) Axis 65 X diameter 44. 



(2) ,, 65 X ,, 43. 



(3) .. 6y X ,, 46. 



Phaethon rubricauda {Scceophaethon rubricauda novcehollandicB). — 

 When Dr. Dobbyn and I visited Raine Islet, in October, ipio, we 

 overlooked this species, the few hours that we spent on the place not 

 permitting of an examination of the caves and crevices. These caves 

 are under the margin of the coralline rock which caps the islet ; some 

 are. of respectable dimensions, but the entrances are small, and one 

 has to crawl or wriggle in on one's stomach in order to examine them. 

 The Tropic-Birds are, however, more often found in small crevices 

 not more than a foot or two in under the rock ledge facing 

 the sea, or in one of the pits or trenches that have been excavated in 

 the centre of the islet. 



Mr. M'Lennan, who examined all these on visiting the place in July, 



