202 MORGAN — Some Observations on Gurmorants 



about half grown that the white feathers of the breast appear 

 on the little pied bird, and even after they are able to tly the 

 under part of the neck remains black. 



The disgorged fish sank when ejected, hence very few 

 were seen, the only species identified was the introduced carp, 

 which has become very numerous in the river and lakes of late 

 years. 



The note of the young birds is a feeble chirping, 

 uttered when the nest was approached or an old bird flew 

 overhead ; the adults were quite silent all the time. 



After examining the shaggery some time was spent in 

 rowing about amongst the flooded tea trees and samphire, and 

 some more moorhens' and grass birds' nests were examined; a 

 disused swan's nest was also seen as well as many young black 

 ducks and a few young swans. After an unsuccessful search 

 for nests of the Bald coot (Porphyrio melanotus), and the Musk 

 Duck (Biziura lobaia), we had lunch at the hut, and returned 

 to Goolwa; a pleasant drive through the hills brought us 

 back to Adelaide the same evening. 



On the 4th of May of this year, my wife, son, and self 

 journeyed to Port Broughton to pay a visit to the Orange- 

 faced Cormorants (Hypoleucus varius hypoleucus), which we 

 had heard were breeding on Shag Island. 



On the morning of May 5th Mr. Wall, Jun., sailed us 

 down the channel to as near the island as the boat could get, 

 and then rowed us some further distance in the dinghy, after 

 which a wade of a quarter of a mile brought us to the man- 

 groves, at that time the tide being low, out of the water. 

 The first birds met with were a flock of Silver Gulls 

 (Brucliigavia novaehollandiae), about 200 in number, evidently 

 in attendance for the purpose of picking up any unconsidered 

 trifles such as disgorged fish and unprotected eggs or chicks; 

 they were also eating the dead birds, for one such was seen 

 with the breast muscles picked away, and many gulls' tracks 

 about it in the mud. A few crows were also hanging about 

 the rookery, sharing the office of scavengers with the gulls. 

 The Island is such only at low water, the incoming tide cover- 

 ing all the mud and flooding the butts of the mangroves. A 

 narrow belt of trees facing the sea was unoccupied, but on 

 passing these we found ourselves at once in the rookery. 

 The nests are all in the trees, some within reach of the hand, 

 but many as high as 10 or 12 feet up, and sometimes as many 

 as a dozen nests in one small tree ; they are built of mangrove 

 and samphire sticks, and at the time of our visit were mostly 



