^°'i9^7^'] Whitf-, North Australian Birds. I47 



Return Voyage. 



Mr. M'Lennan and party, on the 25th January, 1916, made an 

 early start from their anchorage at the mouth of King River on 

 their return to the Roper, and on the following day anchored at 

 sunset in Rolling Bay. The mouth of the Liverpool River was 

 reached about noon next day. 



Birds were fairly plentiful in the scrub of an island near. There 

 were noted an Owl (Sirix), Bronzewing (Chalcophaps), and Fruit- 

 Pigeons {Ptilinopus). A pair of Pitta iris was seen, also Chibia, 

 Myzomela obscura and M. erythrocephala, Zosterops littea, and 

 numsrous Pachycephala melanura. Rhipidura dryas and Myiagra 

 concinna were nest-building, while Megapodes and Nutmeg-Pigeons 

 were heard. 



On the 28th Cape Stewart was reached about 7.J0 p.m. On the 

 30th, when in the channel between Howard Island and the main- 

 land, two natives approached in a canoe. A few birds, chiefly 

 Waders, were noted, and mosquitoes were exceptionally bad at 

 night. After a vicarious passage, grounding on sand-banks and 

 reefs, Caddel Straits were entered on the evening of ist February, 

 and the following day anchor was cast under Alger Island. Just 

 before dusk some Notophoyx flavirostris and a single Garzetta 

 nigripes were observed coming in from the north-west and heading 

 for the mainland. Cape Wilberforce was rounded on the 3rd, and 

 Cape Arnhem the following day, when anchor was cast in Port 

 Bradshaw at sunset. Some natives came alongside with turtle-eggs 

 in exchange for tobacco. 



M'Lennan and Mohr went on shore. Centropus phasianus, 

 Eudynamis cyanocephala, Myristicivora spilorrhoa, Chibia bracteata, 

 Oriolus flavicincttis, Geopelia humeralis and G. placida, Melithreptus 

 albigularis, and Myzomela obscura were noted, also Megapodes, 

 Bronze-wing and Fruit-Pigeons, while Pitta iris, Chlamydera 

 michalis, and Pachycephala simplex were heard in the low, tangled 

 scrub. The Pittas were nest-building. 



As the natives had reported "• bullockie," an excursion was made 

 inland in quest of fresh meat. Cattle tracks only were seen, but no 

 beasts. Country passed through was open forest, lightly grassed, 

 but patches of low scrub existed on the quartz-porphyry outcrops. 

 Birds seen, in addition to those before mentioned, were Uroaetus 

 audax, Dacelo cervina. Halcyon macleayi, Geophaps smithi, Syncecus 

 cervinus, and Dicceum hirundinaceum. 



After baffling breezes and calms, the vicinity of the Roper was 

 reached on the evening of the 14th. After much squally weather, 

 described sometimes as a "' howler," and blinding rain and risks of 

 stranding on sand-banks, the Avis safely entered the big river on the 

 15th. M'Lennan went across the plains for game, saw none, but 

 noted three species of Egrets and many migratory Waders, and 

 occasionally flushed from the grass Larks — Anthus, Mirafra, and 

 Cinclorhamphus — and Megalurus. 



As the party has now arrived in the vicinity of the great 



