174 ^'*'^y Feathers. [Jj^^ 



(Rockhampton district).* Mr. Cornwall states that Regent-Birds 

 are fairly numerous in the locality first mentioned. In com- 

 paring the specimen with birds from New South Wales, it will be 

 observed that the former has the dark plumage blacker and the 

 yellow parts shghtly more intense in colour, which naturally would 

 be the case of the same species of a southern bird found within 

 the tropics. 



Red-browed Finches {Mgintha temporalis) are numerous in the 

 Mackay, Townsville, and Cardwell districts. I also had evidence 

 of the Satin Bower-Bird {Ptilonorhynchns holosericeus) in the last- 

 mentioned locality. The late Mr. Kendall Broadbent recorded 

 having collected both the Red-browed Finch and the Satin Bower- 

 Bird in the Cardwell district.! Therefore, perhaps, they should 

 not have been omitted for " N. Queensland " on the " Check-list," 

 notwithstanding that the smaller forms, Mgintha minor and 

 Ptilonorhynchus minor, respectively occur within the same region, 

 but further north. — A. J. Campbell. Melbourne, 20/12/14. 



Notes on the Nankeen Night-Heron [Nycticorax caledonicus). 

 — Until quite lately I regarded the Nankeen Night-Heron as being 

 shy, comparatively rare, and strictly nocturnal in habit. These 

 views were all upset last week. On the qth December, accom- 

 panied by a well-known Sydney solicitor, I travelled by train 

 along the Northern railway line. When passing a swamp on 

 Baroona Estate, near Singleton, I observed large numbers of 

 White-necked Herons {Notophoyx pacifica) and Straw-necked 

 Ibises {Carphihis spinicollis) feeding in the shallow water, and 

 drew my friend's attention to the birds. He remarked — " Oh, 

 that is nothing ; wait until you see the queer-looking brown birds 

 further down the line." After passing Maitland we ran through 

 more swamps, and there the fun commenced. There were Night- 

 Herons, thousands of them, nearly all busy feeding at 3 p.m. 

 Some were flushed by the train from within the railway fences ; 

 these often settled on the fence, and calmly watched us pass. 

 Hundreds were within as many yards of us, while as far as one 

 could see over the swamps the birds appeared to be equally as 

 numerous, and all were busy feeding among the low swamp-grass. 



As far as I could judge, all the birds were in fully adult plumage. 

 I have travelled the line for very many years, and never previously 

 noted even a single Night-Heron ; why they are now congregated 

 in such vast numbers is a mystery. The season along the coast 

 has been good all through, and swamps everywhere are full. Why, 

 then, should the Herons crowd on to certain areas traversed by 

 one of the busiest railway lines in Austraha ? The track in 

 question carries four sets of rails, and provides an outlet for 

 the great coalfields of the Maitland district, the pastoral and 



* North, "Nests and Eggs of Birds," vol. i., p. 61. 

 t Emu, vol. X., pp. 237 and 238. 



