^°'i ^6^^"1 Alexander, Notes from Western Australia. /iQ 



in his somewliat curious attitude. Occasionally the bird attacked 

 stood liis ground, also with head lowered, and a short light then 

 ensued, the two sparring at one another like game-cocks. Some- 

 times a bird would appear to get^ into an even more frenzied state, 

 start rushing about in a distracted way in every direction, and 

 then fly round swiftly just over the surface of the water, in which 

 he would finally alight and splash about with his wings, making 

 a great commotion. These antics led me to suppose that the 

 birds were thinking about breeding, though the time of year 

 seemed wrong ; but on returning home and consulting Mathews's 

 " Birds of Australia," I found that the only nest of the Western 

 form of this bird recorded was discovered by Mr. Tom Carter 

 in the month of May. About lo days later, 1 again visited the 

 spot and found that the birds were still there, but seemed to have 

 separated into pairs, each having its own little area of the mud- 

 flat. No fights were seen, but the curious display, ending in a 

 great splashing in the water, was again observed. A fortnight 

 later the birds were still in the same spot, still in pairs, each 

 moving around some particular clump of reeds on the mud-flat ; 

 but a search failed to discover any nests. The birds were ex- 

 tremely tame, coming within a few feet of my companion and 

 myself as we waded about in the mud. 



Herdsman's Lake, near Perth, is probably known by name to 

 most members of the Union, as many interesting swamp-birds 

 were collected there years ago, and a number of these specimens 

 have been made the types of the Western sub-species. A good 

 many years ago an attempt was made to drain it, and a channel 

 was cut towards the sea. This has resulted in carrying off so 

 much water that most of the lake is now a dry reed-bed in the 

 summer, though in winter it becomes a considerable sheet of 

 water. The drainage water is carried into an adjacent valley 

 among the sand-hills, where in winter it forms a considerable lake, 

 full of gilgies (the small fresh-water crayfishes of Western Austraha, 

 Cheraps preissii), which are much sought after by Cormorants 

 of several species. On a visit to this spot in March last I found 

 that the water had nearly disappeared, leaving only a few small 

 pools, about which a great number of Night-Herons {Nydicorax 

 caledonicus) were congregated. 1 presume that the gilgies must 

 have retreated into these pools, and that the Night-Herons were 

 obtaining them, as there were at least 200 of these beautiful birds 

 feeding there in the day-time. They would not, however, allow 

 of a near enough approach to see what they were doing, but flew 

 up into the trees About two-thirds appeared to be young birds 

 with brown-spotted plumage, the remainder fully adult. Among 

 them were a few White-fronted Herons {Notophoyx novce-hoLlandice), 

 Darters [Anhinga novce-hollandice). Black Cormorants [Phalacro- 

 corax carbo). Little Black Cormorants {Mesocarbo ater), and Little 

 Cormorants {Microcarbo melanoleucus) . On the same branch of 

 one tree were sitting together a Night-Heron, a Darter, and a 

 Crow — a curious " natural family," of which I should much like 

 to have had a photograph. — 3rd April, 1916, 



