182 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Mr. A. J. Campbell has received a note from Mr. Tom Carter, 

 in which he states that the Straw-necked Ibis were nesting inland 

 from Carnarvon, in Western Australia. He says : — " Just been 

 to look at the Straw-necked Ibis ; about 200 nests, lined with dry 

 gum leaves, and mostly built on acacia bushes bent over by 

 flooded creek, but some built on ground that had been a small 

 island. In some places were six or seven nests, all touching and 

 interbuilt. The young were nearly all fledged, but I got a good 

 many addled eggs, which vary much, some long ovals, others 

 round ovals ; clutch three. There were also White Ibis about, 

 but I did not find their nests." 



Ravens were plentiful, and were frequently seen on the plains 

 feeding on caterpillars and other insects, or congregating on some 

 single tree, apparently holding a meeting, where all tried to talk 

 at once ; they nested anywhere, either high up in the trees or in 

 Lignum or similar bushes, and occasionally on the ground itself, 

 with no shelter anywhere near. Sometimes their nests are found 

 in a dried skeleton of a sheep, the birds using the wool to con- 

 struct their home with ; they usually use the same nest year 

 after year. They are cordially disliked by settlers on account of 

 their weakness for eating out the eyes of weakly lambs or their 

 mothers, for if a sheep is down and too weak to rise, as they 

 frequently are in times of drought, Ravens will often pick the 

 uppermost eye out, but when the sheep is lifted up by human 

 agency they can then feed, and often recover, minus one eye. A 

 pair of Swamp Hawks, or Spotted Harriers, Circus assimilis, were 

 noticed sailing over the swamp, but the Ibis did not take much 

 notice of them. We found two nests of these Harriers, one with 

 four fresh eggs in and the other with young. They were both 

 built in small Lignum bushes, about two feet from the ground, 

 surrounded by a shallow and partially dry swamp, about four 

 miles from the Ibis swamp, and we saw one strike and carry off 

 a half-grown Red-necked Avocet, Recurvirostra novce-hollandice, 

 but after a sharp run we made the bird drop its prey, and were 

 able to secure it, but it died shortly afterwards. These Avocets 

 were numerous in shallow neighbouring swamps, and had 

 evidently almost finished nesting, as many young birds were seen 

 and old nests noted, but one was found that contained four 

 eggs, and they were on the point of hatching. The nest was a 

 flat structure, built on very damp ground, close to the edge 

 of the water, and composed of short pieces of stick. The 

 parent bird tried hard to draw us away from her nest with the 

 usual antics of pretending to be wounded, &c. The other birds 

 were noisy, flying overhead and uttering their plaintive cry, 

 evidently concerned with the safety of their young. A few White- 

 headed Stilts, Himantofus leucocephalus, were noticed flying with 

 them. Native Companions were frequently seen, but always near 



