92 Mr. G. M. Mathews on the 



island. The swamp varies in depth from a few inches to 

 several feet^ and is the home of many large crocodiles and 

 forms their breeding-ground. 



This swamp is a strange place ; it is situated at the head 

 of a salt-water arm, and is about three miles wide by eight 

 long. So far as could be judged, it was covered with reeds, 

 but not thickly. Tlirough the centre runs Jessie's Creek, 

 which is about fifty yards wide and about ten feet deep. 

 This creek is bordered with white and blue water-lilies. 

 On the upper portions of the swamp is a great forest of 

 Paper-bark trees, growing in the water^ which varies from 

 six inches to three feet in depth. There are masses of 

 undergrowth here, also reeds, a cane-like plant, sword- 

 grass, and rushes, so that it is almost impossible to get 

 through. This growth of reeds, sword-grass, etc., continues 

 up the creek for some miles, but the Paper-bark trees get 

 fewer as one advances into the drier ground. 



The only plains on the island lie about 10 miles east of 

 Gordon Point. The patches of jungle are small and scat- 

 tered far apart. During the wet season, which usually starts 

 in December and ends in March, about 70 inches of rain 

 falls. In October and November occasional heavy thunder- 

 storms occur. 



Buchanan's Islets, which lie about two miles from Melville 

 Island and off the south-east end of Apsley Strait, which 

 divides Melville from Bathurst Island, consist of a large patch 

 of mangroves with a high sandy beach on the seaward side 

 and a few small sand-dunes on the eastern end. This place 

 was a great stronghold of all the Waders, the beaches being 

 thronged with thousands of them at high tide. 



The classification and nomenclature used, is that of my 

 new ' List of the Birds of Australia.' 



1. Megapodius duperryi tumnlus. Western Scrub-Fowl. 



Megapodius tumulus Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 184.2, p. 20 : 

 Coburg Peninsula. 



On the 1st of December, 1911, a nesting-mound of this 

 species was found in a narrow belt of jungle growing along 



