6880 Birds. 



success, from the difficulty of procuring a canoe, and still greater of a 

 boatman ; for the negroes hereabouts are particularly independent 

 and unmanageable. The pretty little rail, Ortygometra Carolina, I 

 find very abundant in such places. I have a specimen in vt^hich the 

 buff colour of the vent-feathers is very conspicuous. 



" W. OSBURN. 

 " To P. H. Gosse, Esq." 



Notes on the Habits of the Jahiru. By George Bennett, Esq.* 



A SHORT time since T purchased this rare bird, which was brought 

 alive to Sydney from Port Macquarie, and so little being known 

 respecting its habits I considered the following notes might be 

 interesting. It appears to be a young male, and walks about the 

 yard of the house quite domesticated, making no attempt to fly, nor 

 showing any inclination to leave its domicile. These birds have a 

 wide range over the colony, more particularly about the northern coasts 

 of Australia, and are seen occasionally within the heads and about the 

 sand-banks of the Clarence and Macleay Rivers. They are very difficult 

 of approach, and consequently but few have been obtained, this being 

 the first specimen ever brought alive to Sydney. Among the principal 

 residents in the interior, some inform me that they have only seen four, 

 others only one, during a residence of from twenty-five to thirty years 

 in different parts of the colony. In Leichardt's expedition (according 

 to the account of Mr. Murphy, now residing in Sydney) only two were 

 seen, and these could not be approached sufficiently near to be shot. 

 In 1839 a specimen was shot on Hunter's River, and another on the 

 north shore, near Sydney, about three years since, both of which were 

 presented to the Australian Museum. The person who shot the last 

 bird had the greatest diflaculty in procuring it, from its being so very 

 shy and watchful : he was obliged to follow it for several days in its 

 haunts about the salt-water creeks, until he could get suflSciently near 

 to shoot it, which, being a good marksman, he achieved as soon as he 

 could approach within range. Both these specimens were full-grown 

 males, and in fine and brilliant adult plumage. These birds being so 

 rarely seen, and diflicult to procure when seen, are valuable as speci- 

 mens when dead, and much more so when alive. Many of the residents 

 of the northern districts had seen the bird, but rarely, and at a distance, 



* From the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society.' 



