On the Birds of Melville Island. 91 



IV. — A List of the Birds of Melville Island, Northern 

 Territory, Australia. By Gregory M. Mathews^ M.B.O.U. 



Melville Island lies to the north of Darwin in the Northern 

 Territory of the Australian Commonwealth, at the mouth of 

 Van Diemen Gulf. From Darwin it is distant between thirty 

 and forty miles, and about the same distance from Port 

 Essington. Taking Melville and Bathurst Islands together, 

 the length from extreme east to west is one hundred and 

 twelve miles, and from north to south about fifty-six miles 

 between their extreme points. 



Melville Island was discovered by Captain Phillip P. King, 

 in the ' Mermaid,^ on May the 12th, 1818, and named after 

 the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Viscount Melville. 



A few years later the British Government of the day was 

 considering the idea of settlements somewhere on the north 

 coast of Australia. Port Essington was first thought of, 

 but on the ships (containing everything necessary to form a 

 settlement) going to that place, it was considered by those 

 ill authority that fresh water was not abundant enough, 

 so Melville Island was selected, and on the 30th of Sep- 

 tember, 1824, a settlement was formed on Apsley Strait. 

 On account of the continued hostilities between the whites 

 and blacks it was decided to abandon the settlement; so, on 

 the 31st of March, 1829, everything was removed to Raffles 

 Bay, which had been founded on the 18th of June, 1827, 

 in anticipation of the failure at Melville Island. In October 

 1887^ an exploring party went across the Island (cf. Trans. 

 Eoy. Soc. South Austr. vol. xv. 1892, p. 114). 



The greater part of the island is covered with Eucalyptus 

 forests ; the principal feature of the undergrowth is the 

 large number of cycads, the place of which is sometimes 

 taken by small fan-palms. 



It is well watered by many small creeks which usually 

 empty into the head of a large tidal creek. The only large 

 creek (Jessie) is in the north of the island ; it runs through 

 a large area of low-lying ground near the sea. This tract is 

 flooded by the creek and forms the only large swamp on the 



