Vol. X. 

 1910 



] Campbell and White, Birds on Capricorn Group. 203 



dark grey ; rest of under surface greyish-brown ; bill dark horn 

 or bone brown ; tarsus and feet (living specimens) fleshy-white or 

 yellowish-flesh colour, with black mottlings down the whole of the 

 outer side of the tarsus and outer tos to the base of last phalanx ; 

 toes whitish.* 



Reef-Heron {Dendegretta sacra). 



Reef-Herons in phases of plumage pure white and slate-coloured 

 respectively were flushed frequently from their stick-constructed 

 nests hidden in a thick bush or among the stiff frondage of pan- 

 danus palms. Occasionally a nest was situated on the ground 

 under a bush. The nests contained either a pair or three eggs, 

 sometimes a young one of quaint appearance. (See Plate XXII.) 



One of the islands which we visited, named Heron Island, was 

 so .called by the early explorers because of the numbers of these 

 birds found thereon. 



Both blue and white Reef-Herons t were found on North- 

 West Island, but not nesting. On Tryon Island many hundreds of 

 both coloured kinds congregated on the south side for the pur- 

 pose of rearing their young. Their nests, invariably placed in a 

 depression in the ground, were composed of sticks amongst a mass 

 of tangled creepers and running vegetation, or under a low and 

 wide-spreading bush. The broad leaves and flower-heads of this 

 bush {Toiirnejortia argentea) screened the eggs from the quick- 

 eyed Silver Gull. In most cases the nests contained young, and 

 at the sight of man these ungainly, almost naked birds sneaked 

 off into the undergrowth. Several nests were seen containing two 

 eggs, and but one with three eggs. 



Pied Cormorant [Phalacrocorax hypoleucns). 

 Black Cormorant {Phalacrocorax carho). 



Usually at evening small numbers of the Pied Cormorant crossed 

 our camping quarters, evidently flying to roost on some favoured 

 islet nearer the Barrier Reef ; and on North-West Island a bird 

 of the large Black variety was disturbed from its perch on a dead 

 tree near the water. 



Brown Gannet {Siila leucogaster). 



A carcass of this inter-tropical species of wide range was found 

 on Mast-Head Island, while at Xorth-West Island a bird answering 



* The specimen I brought from Western Austraha, which is in the National 

 jMuseum, Melbourne, is similar, but slightly lighter coloured in plumage, no doubt 

 due to being exposed in the case for 20 years. Dimensions :— Wing, il^ ; 

 bill, i}4 ; tail, 5^ ; tarsus, 1^4 ; middle toe and claw, 2 inches. Regarding the 

 range of habitat eastward of J", spheiiurns, I have received specimens of bird and 

 eggs taken on Surprise Island, in the region of New Caledonia. — A. J. C. 



1 1 made close observation of these birds, and in my mind there is no doubt what 

 ever that the white birds are a distinct species from the blue. I dissected mature 

 males and females, white and blue. I flushed white birds from their nests with white 

 young, and blue birds from large young of a darker colour. No one during the 

 expedition observed a bird of mixed colour. — S. A. W. 



