170 Stray Feathers. [ isf "jan 



breasted Robin, White-throated Thickhead, Yellow-faced Honey- 

 eater, and White-shafted Fantail inhabit thickets and such cover 

 as deep and undisturbed gullies afford. Now, apart from the 

 nature of the locality being shown in this manner, the geograph- 

 ical position is indicated by the presence of the Striated Pardalote 

 and Fuscous Honey-eater, both of which belong to northern 

 Victoria ; yet, being in association with the White-throated 

 Thickhead and Spotted Pardalote, which are properly species of 

 the southern portion, they show that the locality is somewhere 

 on the junction of the two regions. Withal, the White-backed 

 Magpie and the White-shafted Fantail throw the balance toward 

 southern more than northern avifauna, and at the same time 

 the locality is fixed fairly accurately in the western portion of 

 the State, since the stronghold of this Magpie is the region from 

 about Melbourne through the south-western quarter of Victoria. 

 Thus there can be elaborated from such a list all the main 

 physical facts of the district, provided that the list contains two 

 score or more names of representative birds. This is not so 

 exact as regards soil, climate, altitude, and configuration as a 

 list of representative plants, for instance, might show, but, never- 

 theless, sufficient material will be evident to make the perusal of 

 authentic bird-lists of great interest. — A. G. CAMPBELL. 

 Pomonal, Vic, November, 1909. 



Visit to a Night-Heron Rookery. — At a point some 

 20 miles to the south of Fremantle lie scattered about, close 

 to the coast, a small group of rocky islets and broken 

 reefs, guarding the entrance to Safety Bay, well known on the 

 western seaboard as a spawning ground for the schnapper 

 {Pagrus). Through the kindness of Inspector Abjornsson, of the 

 Fisheries Department, I was able to accompany him on one of his 

 trips to the bay during the close season. While the spawning 

 lasts the bay is zealously guarded from disturbance by Italian 

 and other fishermen. The temptation to sweep into the com- 

 paratively smooth waters of the bay, or Warnbro' Sound, as it is 

 otherwise called, and secure an easy haul of fish is a very strong 

 one, and were it not for an enthusiastic Inspector great inroads 

 would be made among the spawning fish. Leaving Fremantle 

 at daybreak on 14th November in a comfortable lugger, we ran 

 down past Garden Island, and eventually anchored near one of 

 the open channels in the line of reefs that runs parallel with the 

 coast at a distance of about a mile. The long ocean rollers, 

 meeting with no resistance just here, race on until they reach the 

 beach, which trails like a white ribbon against the blue waters of 

 the bay. From our anchorage we could see the outline of the 

 Darling Ranges, extending into the misty distance to the north 

 and south, and, in between a small cluster of islets, was just 



