^"'ig^j^^ ■] White , North A ustralia ii Birds . I ^ I 



The water was about waist-deep, so 1 made my way back to the 

 dinghy and returned to camp at sunset. Had a bad time at tea, 

 mosquitoes being in full force. Had to grab a pannikin of tea and 

 piece of bread and meat and stand across a fire to get a little brief 

 respite from the wretches. 



2/3/16.— Spent the morning blowing the eggs. Had a bad time 

 dodging the mosquitoes; had dense "smokes" going all around 

 the camp, but could not drive the insects away. Went over to the 

 rookery after lunch for fresh sets of eggs of G. nigripes, N. flavirostris 

 and H. timoriensis. All nests of M. plumifera examined contained 

 small young. Mosquitoes bad all day. Two crocodiles seen at 

 pretty close quarters at high tide, water being about waist-deep 

 then. Got back to camp 5 p.m. Had tea and turned in to beat 

 mosquitoes. 



3/3/16— Laid in till pretty late, waiting for the mosquitoes to 

 leave mosquito-net ; tent and everything under it was black with 

 them. Got the " smokes " going. Spent the morning blowing eggs. 

 I will have to test the eggs before taking any more. Visited the 

 rookery after lunch ; more sets G. nigripes, N. flavirosiris. Tested 

 all in water ; those that floated I replaced in the nests. Big 

 crocodile seen pretty close up ; it went down before I could get a shot. 

 Large cat-fish numerous. I stood on a couple — jumped, thinking 

 they were crocodiles. Nest of Piezorhynchus nitidus noted. Re- 

 turned to camp before dark. Mosquitoes still terrible. 



4/3/16. — Spent the day blowing and packing eggs. New and 

 Mohr went up the river in the cutter to look for water. They got 

 back shortly after sunset with a quantity, but it was not the best. Bit 

 of a breeze kept the mosquitoes away for a while this evening. 



5/3/16. — Mosquitoes again in full force. Visited the rookery after 

 lunch, for observations. The big crocodile up again, about 20 yards 

 away, just as we got to the dinghy, and went down again before 

 I could get a shot. It looked as if it were stalking us. 



6/3/16. — Mosquitoes bad, and flies also becoming a nuisance. 

 Visited the rookery in the afternoon. Most of the nests of M. 

 plumifera contained two heavily-incubated eggs. 



7/3/16. — Visited the rookery after lunch. Took several sets — 

 G. nigripes, N. flavirostris, and M. plumifera. Water was waist 

 deep at back of rookery. I was just starting for dinghy when a big 

 crocodile came to the surface about 8 feet from me, and calmly lay 

 watching me. New wa3 carrying the rifle, and handed it to me. 

 I put a bullet into the base of the saurian's skull ; it gave a leap out 

 of the water, almost turned a somersault, and disappeared. Got 

 to camp about 5 p.m. Mosquitoes not quite so bad; smoke keeps 

 them under. 



8/3/16. — Blowing and packing eggs during the morning. Bird- 

 observing and crocodile-shooting in the afternoon. The ugly reptiles 

 appear fairly plentiful about here. Mosquitoes bad again after dark. 



9/3/16.— Uneventful day, save for mosquitoes, which were bad 

 all day. 



10/3/16. — Mosquitoes awful during morning. Visited rookery 

 after lunch, and examined Egrets' nests. Found a nest of Piezo- 

 ihynchus nitidus with two eggs. Water was chest-deep at the 



