from Western Australia. 125 
sooty brown, medially divided by a line of whitish down 
(spinal tract down) from below the upper neck to the tail ; 
the upper leg: is sooty brown, regularly spotted with white ; 
the tarsus and toes are covered with a soft yellow skin com- 
posed of reticulated hexagonal scales ; the bill is horn-black, 
the lower mandible is tipped with yellow; the nails are 
black ; the iris is hazel. Length 12 inches. 
B. Nestling (strongly feathered ; about to leave nest) . — 
Feathers of the head and neck all round light rufous, more 
so on the lower than on the upper part, each feather streaked, 
along the middle with black and bounded laterally with 
white ; the rufous is conspicuous on the lower fore-neck and 
less so on /the nape, which is streaked ; chin and throat 
whitish, tinged only with rufous and narrowly marked down 
each centre with brownish black ; behind the eye a line of 
black feathers; no broad line of white running down the 
side of the neck ; a broad band of light brown down upon 
the chest, with only two or three feathers ; breast, abdomen, 
and under tail-coverts white, slightly tinged in the median 
part with light yellowish buff ; interscapulium and back 
deep brown, each feather broadly edged with buff; outer 
wing- quills black, tipped with pale rufous; inner quills 
chocolate-brown, edged with pale rufous like the majority of 
the upper tail-coverts, which are chocolate-brown broadly 
edged with bufB; under tail-coverts deep brown edged with 
rufous buff; tail-feathers, only partially '' burst/^ blackish 
brown and ashy brown alternately barring the tail, tips 
pale rufous ; legs partly clothed with down and white 
feathers ; tarsus and foot with loose tawny skin in a complete 
fold ; talons and bill horn-black. Total length 22*5 inches, 
wing 12, tail 6' 5, tarsus about 2*1. 
Each islet has its pair of Ospreys with a nest upon the 
high land above the beach, which rarely exceeds five feet in 
altitude. This year the eggs were laid early in October, and 
I only succeeded in finding eggs on the 17th and 26th of 
that month. Many nests contained two young birds each, 
while one had a nestling and an addled e^^. They were 
made of a mass of coral, shells, sticks, and seaweeds, while 
