QUEENSLAND and NORTHERN TERRITORY 69 



species lives in a thousand miles of parched coun- 

 try parallel to the 1,000 miles of country shown in 

 map 26. Both are conspicuously different to all 

 other birds, and to each other, making the colour 

 of their eggs more than passing interest. 



The Coach-whips love the glens far from the 

 haunts of men, and communion is mostly with 

 those dairy maids on the outposts. 



GANNETS IN AUSTRALIAN WATERS 



A. The Australian Gannet 



B. Equatorial Gannets 



The very similar species in the European waters 

 is known as the Solan Goose, though it has no 

 goose like leading characters. Both are web-footed. 

 The gannets fish in many seas and we have four 

 species in three oceans. Map 27 shows one kind 

 in the southern ocean, and three on the western, 

 northern and eastern shores. In winter they enter 

 the bays to follow the shoals of fish, which they 

 capture by diving perpendicularly through the air 

 from a great height. The stronghold of the south- 

 ern bird A is Bass Strait, while its most southerly 

 resting place is on the Mewstone Rock south of 

 Tasmania. This rock is the extreme southern end 

 of the Australian land shelf, and all that is left of 

 it. The largest of its rookeries is on the Flinders 

 Group, where 2,500 birds may be seen nesting in 

 October. Two eggs of beautiful blue entirely 



