Vol. X: 

 1910 



] Macgillivray, Along the Great Barrier Reef. 221 



{Orthorhamphiis inagnirostris), and great numbers of Curlews, 

 Whimbrels, and Sandpipers. There are also a few pairs of 

 Black-naped Terns {Sterna melanauchen) and a pair of Caspians 

 [Hydroprogne caspia). We sail again in a north-westerly direc- 

 tion, endeavouring to round a reef, but, owing to the approach 

 of darkness, are compelled to run towards the mainland, and 

 anchor in the first shallow water, in an unsheltered position, where 

 we pass a very uncomfortable night. 



Again at daylight we start for Night Island, where many 

 Nutmeg-Pigeons are supposed to nest. We meet numbers 

 coming away from it, and when we go to the island they are 

 hovering all over it, and going off in larger and smaller flocks 

 almost continuously. The island is scrubby, and occupied 

 all along one side by a dense belt of mangrove. The Yellow- 

 spotted Honey-eater {Ptilotis analoga), White-rumped Wood- 

 Swallow {Artamus lencoga^te}), and Mangrove Kingfisher {Halcyon 

 sordidiis) are noted. The Pigeons are mostly in the man- 

 groves, where we note a few nests in various stages of com- 

 pletion, but none containing an egg. Three pairs of Roseate 

 Terns {Sterna gracilis) are hovering about the island and uttering 

 cries of alarm, but no nests are found. A long sail after this 

 takes us round Cape Direction to Orchid Point, where we anchor 

 to replenish our water supply, going ashore to a lovely little sandy 

 bay let into a rocky shore, where the tropical scrub comes to the 

 water's edge all round. We find a fine fresh-water spring just 

 above high water mark, with a pool of clean, cold water. Re- 

 suming our journey into Lloyd's Bay, we anchor behind a large 

 island of the same name, where a sandal-wood getter has his home. 

 Stretching along the front of the island for about half a mile is 

 a thick belt of mangrove, the island rising behind, green and 

 wooded, to a height of 200 feet. When we arrive in the evening. 

 Nutmeg- Pigeons are arriving in small numbers from the north- 

 western part of the mainland to roost in the mangroves. The 

 loud whistling of the Varied Honey-eater {Ptilotis versicolor) is 

 heard from the mangroves, and also the call of the Mangrove- 

 Kingfisher. We land and search them — no easy matter in the heat 

 and moisture and mud. The hoo-hooing of the Pigeons is heard 

 on all sides, and, wandering up the hillside to cool down, we note 

 an old Eagle's eyry (probably that of the Sea-Eagle), many Pigeons' 

 nests in course of formation, and an untenanted Kingfisher's, in 

 a white ants' nest on a Melaleuca. After a visit to the ocean-side 

 we return, to find that the Pigeons have more than doubled their 

 numbers in the mangroves, and are arriving in an almost incessant 

 stream. Their hoo-hooing is blended into a continuous murmur, 

 as of a distant sea breaking on a rocky shore. There is, however, 

 a distraction to the monotony of the Pigeons' note, and this con- 

 sists in the continued screechings of thousands of Blue Mountain 

 Lorikeets {Trichoglossiis novce-hollandice), which are also arriving 

 from the mainland in vast flocks to rest in this same belt 

 of mangrove. This large stream of screeching and cooing 



