THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



43 



pebbles with its long grey bill in search 

 of food. 



We saw several of its nests which 

 were placed in slieltered crevices among 

 rocks or under trunks of fallen banyans. 

 They were composed of palm fibre witli 

 a few leaves as lining, but none con- 

 tained 'eggs. Woodhens once roamed 

 plentifully over the whole island, but 

 they have been steadily destroyed by 

 eats and dogs, until they are now found 

 only on the upper parts of the two 

 mountains and in such inaccessible 

 places as the Big and Little Slopes be- 

 neath the southern elift's of Mount 

 Gower. It is very probable that they 

 will not last even there much longer 

 owing to the ravages of the rats upon 

 their eggs, and it would seem that they 

 may well suffer the fate whicli has over- 

 taken most of the other land birds of 

 the island. 



THE TRAGEDY. 



But two years ago the forest of Lord 

 Howe Island was joyous with the notes 

 of myriads of birds, large and small 

 and of many kinds. Doves wandered 

 fearlessly around one's feet on the main 

 roads, and the busli resounded with 

 their cooing. Doctor Birds {Aplornis 



fuscus), made their ap]jearance in the 

 garden clearings in liundreds every 

 evening, and with the fantails (Rhipi- 

 duru), even wandered through the 

 liouses in search of insects and cruml)s. 

 Cuggermerucks {Merulu), ami Silver- 

 eyes {Zosterup.s), played havoc in the 

 fruit trees, while Thickheads {Pachy- 

 aephala), and a (h)zen others added to 

 the general chorus. They were un- 

 molested save by each other, the resi- 

 dents of the island rarely disturbing 

 their harmony. To-day, however, the 

 ravages of rats, tiie worst enemy of 

 mankind, which have been accidentally 

 introduced, liave made tlie note of a 

 bird rare, and the sight of one, save the 

 strung-billed Magpie and the King- 

 fisher {Halcyon), even rarer. AVithin 

 two years tliis paradise of birds has be- 

 come a wilderness, and the quiet of 

 death reigns where all was melody. One 

 cannot see how the happy conditions are 

 to be restored. The v^ry few birds re- 

 maining are unable to breed, being 

 eitlier destroyed upon their nests or 

 driven from them by the rats, and then- 

 eggs eaten. One can scarcely imagine a 

 greater calamity in the bird world than 

 this tragedy which has overtaken the 

 avifauna of Lord Howe Island. 



The tangle of vegetation covering the greater part of the island has 



become the home of myriads of rats, which find in it an abundance 



of food and a safe retreat from man and dogs. 



Photo — A. R. MeCulIoch. 



