Vol. VIII. 



1909 



] Jackson, Nests and Eggs Found in Atherton District. 285 



This Robin frequents forest country of the Atherton and 

 Herberton districts. It seldom goes into a scrub, therefore the 

 above discovery on the edge of the scrub appears an exception to 

 the rule. In the open forest country I found five nests in Novem- 

 ber (1908) ; in each case the nest was built in a forest tree several 

 miles from any scrub. Three nests contained each two young 

 birds, while two were apparently nearly ready for eggs. 



Note. — The foregoing five types of new eggs are in the collection 

 of Mr. H. L. White, Belltrees, Scone, New South Wales. 



Observation. — In my article, "The Barron River Valley," I 

 omitted to mention the common Miner {Myzantha garrula), which I 

 observed frequently in the forest tracts. I do not think this bird 

 has been previously recorded for North Queensland. 



Review. 



[" The Confessions of a Beachcomber : Scenes and Incidents in the Career of an 

 Unprofessional Beachcomber in Tropical Queensland," By E. J. Banfield. With a 

 map and 53 illustrations. T. Fisher Unwin, Adelphi-terrace, London. 1908.] 



Mr. E. J. Banfield is a member of the A.O.U., and has contributed 

 valuable field observations on birds to this journal,* therefore his 

 " Confessions " will, no doubt, be read with special interest. 



" The Confessions of a Beachcomber " comprises a charming book 

 written in a unique style, partly poetic and partly descriptive 

 of the sights, sounds, and moods of Nature as she discovered 

 herself to the author during his residence of eight years or so on a 

 romantic islet on the border of the coral sea, North-Eastern Queens- 

 land. The name of Mr. Banfield's island-home is Dunk.| It has 

 an area slightly over 3 square miles, is verdure clad from the coral 

 strand to the summit of the highest hill, and is situated 2| miles 

 from the mainland, in Rockingham Bay — a district celebrated for 

 its ornithological as well as its botanical wealth. 



The book contains chapters on all branches of nature-study from 

 ethnology downwards, but this review naturally will deal only with 

 the ornithology of Mr. Banfield's " Confessions," which are written 

 in popular and pleasing phraseology. The chapter on birds is 

 divided into various suggestive. sub-heads, such as " Birds and Their 

 Rights," "The Daybreak Fugue," "The Nestful Tree," "White 

 Nutmeg- Pigeon," "The Flaine-Trees' Visitors," &c. 



Here is a bit of the life of the beautiful and lively Varied Honey- 

 eater {Ptilotis versicolor) : — 



" Once aroused, the Varied Honey-eater is wide awake. His restlessness 

 is equalled only by his impertinent exclamations. He shouts his own 

 aboriginal title, ' Go-bidger-00 ! ' ' Put on your boots ! ' ' Which— which — 



* One of his more important finds was the discovery of a colony of Swiftlels 

 ( Collocalia francica) nesting in a cavern on Dunk Island. Vide Emu, viii., pp. 

 146-148. — Eds. 



t Discovered and named by Capt. Cook after George Montagu Dunk, First Earl 

 of Sandwich, Second Baron and First Earl of Halifax, who was First Lord of the 

 Admiralty at the time of its discovery. 



