122 Mr. R. Hall on Birds 
spent in that vast area, the timber of which seemed to me 
too heavy for any other purpose with regard to bird-life than 
to hide its representatives. I was slightly more fortunate at 
Tor Bay, which is midway between Albany and Denmark, 
and less heavily wooded. It being more or less rainy in that 
district for eight months of the year, the birds partial to a 
damp atmosphere congregate there. After leaving Albany 
for Katanning, the wet country changes at Mt. Barker, some 
fifty miles from the coast, and the Acacia known as the 
" Raspberry -jam Tree" becomes the prevailing timber. 
Katanning is the centre of a flat area bearing the *^ jam^^ tree, 
and possessing an occasional supply of water. This is just 
suited to the Yellow-throated Minah {Manorhina flavigula). 
Some eighteen miles west of Katanning is a creek, that 
attracts a certain number of species throughout the year, 
and to the east of it is a shallow lake that furnishes a variety 
of bird-life at certain seasons. Near Perth a naturalist can 
profitably spend some time, and an outing of three or four 
miles will take him to something worth seeing. Even in the 
picturesque suburb of South Perth Banksias are still to be 
met with and Honey- eaters are numerous. Within a mile of 
the Zoological Garden a Haliastur sphenurus had, I found, 
built its nest. Geraldton, where I spent a week, is the 
south-western sea-port of the arid country, and one need 
only walk along the deep dry bed of a river to find that bird- 
life is there associated with hot air. The Meliphagidse are 
abundant, while the flora is, as elsewhere, magnificent in 
spring. 
The Abrolhos are coral-islands which sea-birds haunt in 
abundance. A cruise through them will ensure success to 
the explorer. As these notes will so often refer to specimens 
collected on the Houtman^s Albrohos, I will give (see 
Appendix), along with some nesting-data, a list of the birds 
found there. Two such have been previously published — one, 
in 1890, by Mr. A. J. Campbell, and a second, in 1898, by 
Mr. B. Helms *. The latter list included all the species 
given in the former with two additions [Anthus australis and 
* * Producer's Gazette of Western Australia,' v. p. (3. 
