636 MR. P. D. MONTAGUE ON THE 
12. ZoNEGINTHUS CASTANOTIS ROEBUCKI. 1347. Dark Chest- 
nut-eared Finch. 
This bird resembles the form from Roebuck Bay in being dark 
above, and in having the dark ear-patch. The species in its 
various forms is widely distributed over the Australian continent. 
On the Monte Bello Group it is confined to Trimouille and South- 
East Island. Its head-quarters is the lagoon towards the north-. 
west end of the island, which has already been described. Large, 
loose spherical nests, composed of dry herbaceous stems and lined 
with feathers and soft grass, were often to be met with amongst 
the branches of Avicennia, and one was found amongst the rocks 
under an overhanging cliff-edge. They contained no eggs; the 
breeding- season probably commences in October. 
dé: wing 99 mm.; culmen 10; tarsus 14. 
QS 48 Bane oe LA ie eae onae Mel bs 155 
Iris orange-red ; bill orange; feet flesh-colour. 
Land-birds alone are likely to furnish indications of zoological 
isolation and pre-existing land-connections. It will be seen that, 
with one exception, the above list only comprises birds which 
inhabit the North-West of Western Australia. ‘The exception 
is Halcyon sanctus westralasianus, the subspecies inhabiting 
the South-Western region. The fact is of interest, as one would 
naturally have expected to find H. s. ramsayi, the North- 
Western bird, and the occurrence of South-Western forms on 
the Monte Bello Group is found also in the invertebrate fauna. 
Of the peculiar forms, Hremiornis carteri assimilis might have 
been anticipated, as it is a bird addicted to one locality and 
apparently incapable of prolonged flight. It has not been re- 
ported from Barrow Island, however, where there occurs in its 
stead a blue JdZalwrus, which is absent from the Monte Bello 
Group. It is curious, on the other hand, that a bird so 
widely distributed and strong on the wing as Anthus australis 
should be also represented by a readily distinguished subspecies, 
whereas the Zosterops, a no less characteristic and abundant 
bird, of a genus quite remarkable for its insular forms, should be 
identical in every respect with the type from Carnarvon. 
SEA-BIRDS, WADERS, AND BIRDS OF PREY. 
13. HYDROPROGNE TSCHEGRAVA STRENUA. 128. Caspian Tern. 
Sylochelidon strenwus Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1846. 
This bird is distributed around the coasts of South and 
Western Australia, and was found in scattered pairs frequenting 
the low flat islets at the north of the group. A single half- 
erowh young one was discovered among the rocks on a beach of 
Trimouille, at the end of July. 
