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IN AUSTRALIAN WILDS 



Gulls, though nesting in company, were not friends, 

 and the owners of one nest, we suspected, destroyed 

 the eggs of their nearest neighbours. Silver Gulls 

 are charming birds, but one cannot say much for their 

 character. Several young birds in the down were 

 seen on the beach; when an attempt was made to 

 capture one it darted into the sea, and swam bravely 

 for a few yards. 



NEST AND EGGS OF REEF HERON. 



In dense bushes near the beach, and amid the 

 harsh frondage of Pandanus Palms, Reef -Herons had 

 built their stick nests. Some contained either two 

 or three bluish-white eggs, while fledglings, quaint 

 little creatures, whose heads and beaks appeared too 

 big for their feeble bodies, occupied others. The 

 nestlings were timid, and when anybody approached 

 scrambled from the nest to hide in the undergrowth. 

 Both the blue and the white coloured Reef-Herons 



