4('>1 ME. W. B. ALEXANDER ON THE 



Columbiformes. 



COLUMBID*. 



Cosmopelia elegans neglecta, Mathews. Brush Bronze-wing Pigeon. 



Plentiful on East and West Wallaby Islands and North Island, though, 

 curiously enough, we did not meet with them on the Pigeon Islands, which 

 Stokes named from their abundance there. A nest containing one fresh egg- 

 was found by me on East Wallaby Island in November 1913, and Hall 

 captured a young bird that had just left the nest on Pigeon Island in 

 November 1899. " Grey Turtle-Doves " were seen by Pelsart on the 

 Wallaby Islands in 1629. Stokes recorded them as the " Common Bronze- 

 winged Pigeon" and Campbell as Phaps clialcoptera. Owing to their rapid 

 flight and their habit of flying just over the bushes and then ducking down 

 again, it is by no means easy to get a good view of them, and perhaps 

 Campbell did not secure a specimen. There are two specimens from the 

 Abrolhos in the W.A. Museum, obtained in 1894, and I cannot discover any 

 differences between them and specimens from the mainland, though they are 

 both distinctly below the average in size. 



Ralliformes. 



RALLlUiE. 



Hypoivenidia philippensis {Linn.). Buff-banded Rail. 



Campbell saw this species on Rat and Pelsart Islands, and states that it is 

 known to breed on the latter. We did not meet with the species. Birds 

 from this locality would presumably be H. p. mellori, Mathews. 



Porzanoidea plumbea robekti, Mathews. Spotless Crake. 



Campbell states that this species occurs on Pelsart Island, " about the 

 mangrove swamp " (there are numerous mangrove swamps on the island). 

 Gibson saw a pair in November 1907, " on a rocky islet forming part of Rat 

 Island." "This record for these birds," he very justly adds, "is, I think, 

 somewhat unique." Judging from the localities it frequents on the mainland, 

 this is one of the most unlikely birds one could think of to be found on these 

 dry islands. 



Falconiforrnes. 



Falconidj;. 



Cerchneis cenchroides unicolor (Millic/an). Nankeen Kestrel. 



A bird of this species was seen on West Wallaby Island, and tw y o days 

 later another, or more probably the same individual, on North Island. 

 Doubtless it was only a visitor from the mainland. 



