SOME USEFUL AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 67 



They are usually found along the banks of rivers or in the vicinity of 

 swamps and lagoons. Just at dusk they fly out of their resting-place, and 

 their harsh croak can be heard all through the night as they hunt along the 

 banks or wade out into the mud hunting for crayfish, small frogs, crustaceans, 

 and insects, their lance-shaped beaks being admirably adapted for pouncing 

 upon all kinds of small fry. There has been, and still is, I believe, a 

 small colony of Nankeen Herons in the brush in the old garden at Macleay 

 House, Elizabeth Bay, from which they fly out in the evening and hunt over 

 the foreshores of the bay through the night. When nesting inland they 

 build a stout nest of sticks in the larger trees among the swamps and 

 lagoons, but on the coastal waters much less care is taken in the construction 

 of their nests, and they are much smaller and more flimsy. The eggs, four 

 in number, are a light bluish-green, and the young nestlings for some time 

 after they are hatched out are covered with dark down, which is spotted and 

 striped with white. As they lose their baby clothes, however, they don 

 the rich nankeen brown of the adults. 



With the rich contrasting tints of back and breast, and the beautiful 

 white occipital head plumes and bright yellow eyes, the Nankeen Heron is a 

 handsome as well as a useful night hunter, and on account of both its value 

 and its beauty should be protected from the pot-hunter and the 

 thoughtless boy. 



The Pacific Gull (Gabianus pacificus Latham). 

 Gould's Handbook, vol. II, p. 385, No. 596 ; Leach's Bird Book, p. 41, No. 73. 



The Pacific Gull is common along the coasts of Australia and Tasmania ; 

 this bird and the smaller Silver Gull (Larius novce-hollandice), are the 

 scavengers of our sands along the sea shore, devouring all kinds of dead 

 animal matter cast up by the waves. 



These useful and handsome birds should be most carefully protected, not 

 only on account of their useful work on sea and land, but also because of the 

 added beauty and interest their presence give to the sea-side resorts. Anyone 

 shooting seagulls from the deck of a steamer or on our beaches should be 

 promptly dealt with, and bird-lovers will agree that such a person should be 

 treated without the option of a fine. 



The Pacific Gull is the larger bird, having a total length of about 25 inches, 

 while the Silver Gull barely measures 17 inches. They usually construct 

 substantial open grass nests on the reefs and small islands along the coast, 

 and place them upon the ground sheltered among the grass tussocks and low 

 shrubs. The eggs, averaging two or three in number, are olive-green, and 

 marked with dark-brown blotches. The young birds are not fully plumaged 

 until the third year, according to Campbell, being clothed in a dull brown or 

 mottled grey coat, which is afterwards replaced with the beautiful white 

 feathers of the adults. The Silver Gulls live and breed more in small colonies, 

 sometimes collecting, in stormy weather, in large numbers in the sheltered 



