Vol. VlII. 



igoq 



1 Jackson, In the Barron River Valley, N.Q. 245 



bouring island of Bedarra I found a clutch of Stone-Plover's 

 eggs {BurhiHUs grallarms), a bird which is better known as the 

 Land or Bush Curlew. It is curious that I found the eggs of 

 this inland bird on the sand barely 3 feet above high tide 

 mark — a circumstance distinctly unusual. The wealth of vege- 

 tation on these islands would highly delight the botanist, who 

 would hardly know where to begin observing and collecting. 

 Plants which in cooler climes are only known in hot-houses here 

 flourish in wild luxuriance in the open. Amongst other things 

 the lovely golden orchid {Dendrobmin ujid?ilatuni) grew in rank 

 abundance on all these islands. I was much interested in find- 

 ing the large nesting mounds of the Scrub-Fowl {Megapodhis 

 ditpcrreyi). One of these measured 25 feet across at the base 

 by a depth of over 8 feet and a top width of 9 feet. They were 

 mostly located low down in the scrubs, close to the sea. . Before 

 leaving this subject I must record the fact that I saw Megapodes 

 on Dunk Island flying from the scrub up into the very tallest of 

 the big forest trees. On these islands I also saw several nests 

 of the White-headed Osprey or Fish- Hawk {Pandion leiico- 

 cepha/iis), from which the young birds had lately departed. The 

 green tree-ant {CEcopJiylhis sinaragdina) I found plentiful on 

 these islands, and on the coast of North Queensland generally. 

 While up at a nest of the Nutmeg-Pigeon in a mangrove- 

 tree I got covered all over with these green insects, and received 

 many bites from them. Their nest, which is about the size of a 

 football, and placed in a tree, is composed of green leaves, which 

 are all neatly fastened together with a white substance resem- 

 bling cobweb. On the island of Kumboola I saw very large 

 oysters [Ostrea cJiristi-galli), growing loosely, one pair of shells 

 weighing nearly four pounds. If space permitted I could 

 profitably devote it to details of my visit to Rockingham 

 Bay and the Johnstone, but I must not forget that this article is 

 primarily to deal with the Atherton district and the habits and 

 haunts of that puzzling anomaly the Tooth-billed Bower-Bird. 

 Meanwhile word reached the captain of the s.s. Rwanda, at 

 Townsville, to slow down opposite Dunk Island, and on the 

 19th of October, at the witching hour of midnight, I took 

 leave of host and hostess, and was rowed across the dark waters 

 of the bay to intercept the Kuranda, and returned north again. 



We reached Cairns at about 2.30 p.m. on the following day 

 (20th October), just in time for me to get to my bed with a 

 smart attack of " Johnstone River fever," a companion unsought 

 and undesirable, but the almost inevitable price of my wanderings 

 in the moist, fever-stricken scrubs. It was not, in fact, until the 

 27th that the stern veto of the doctor was removed and I was per- 

 mitted to resume my journey to Atherton. I was convalescent, 

 still very weak. But the desire to get back to those baffling 

 Tooth-bills was so strong that I had to get to Atherton somehow, 

 even if I crawled. 



