160 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST, 



walk through the bush, and succeeded in obtaining a Tree Snake 

 ( Dendrophis hilorealis) and a few beetles. We saw some natives 

 who had just returned from Herbert Vale, where they had been 

 having a fight with another tribe, but no one appeared to have 

 been much hurt. 



About midday we left by steamer for one of the North Barnard 

 Islands, about 40 miles distant. On the way several islands 

 were passed, and near Dunk Island we saw a small sandy islet, 

 which was covered with terns nesting. About 5 o'clock we 

 were landed at our destination, and we pitched our camp on a 

 small patch of coral strand, which was formed on one side of the 

 island ; whilst close behind our humpy was a small patch of light 

 scrub and some Screw or Pandanus Palms, under the shade of 

 which we had our meals. We got everything fixed up before 

 dark, and also watched the Torres Straits Pigeons (Carpophaga 

 luctuosa) coming from the mainland to roost. They came 

 across to the islands in small flocks, varying from half a dozen 

 to about twenty birds, there being a continuous flight for about 

 ^Bn hour and a half. The numbers that were roosting on the 

 island must. have numbered many thousands, and when the 

 steamer blew its whistle as it passed by, a white cloud of birds 

 rose up, and as they settled again the dark-foliaged trees looked 

 as if they were covered with large white flowers. . It was a 

 remarkable sight, and worth coming a long way to see : the 

 vegetation on the island was full of pigeons, and the cooing of 

 so many birds was like one continuous sound. The male birds 

 frequently made a curious clucking kind of noise, and also 

 fought a good deal among themselves. The north group of 

 islands, on which we were, consists of three fair-sized and one 

 very small island, all within half a mile of one another, but as 

 there is no permanent water on them they are uninhabited. On 

 the South Barnards, however, six miles away, there is a 

 permanent freshwater spring, and a beche-de-raer fishing 

 station is established there. Shortly after sundown we saw a 

 few Flying Foxes flying very high in the air towards the main- 

 land. These were soon followed by others, and directly after, as 

 far as we could see, hundreds of thousands of them were passing 

 over us, and the flight continued until it was too dark to see 

 any more ; they also evidently had their camping ground on one 

 of the numerous islands not far distant. What a large quantity 

 of fruit it must take to feed such a number. A few came to our 

 island, and we heard them fighting and squealing in the scrub 

 during the night, but it was impossible to obtain a specimen, as 

 we could not get through the scrub after dark. During the night 

 we were occasionally disturbed by mosquitoes and also by the 

 Long-haired Rat, a few of which are on the island, and everything 

 had free access to us through the leafy covering of our humpy; 



