8 



LORD HOWE ISLAND. 



Mutton-bird Point, we observed traces of iiigs, botli tracks find wallowing 

 places (" mud holes "). An excellent description of the method employed 

 by the Islanders in hunting goats is given by the late Deputy Surveyor- 

 General, Mr. E. D. Pitzgerald,* and is well worth, perusal. 



Aves. — The birds of Lord Island have received greater attention than any 

 portion of its fauna, but the general information relating to them, and the 

 specific descriptions are very much scattered. In an interesting paper 

 " Notes on the Zoology of Lord Howe Island,"t Dr. E, P. Eamsay gives a 

 list of thirty-four birds known to him as occurring there, but omitting one, 

 an undoubted introduction, there remained at the time his table war, 

 published thirty -three indigenous birds. Since then the "Tabular List of all 

 the Australian Birds":!: has appeared by the same author, in which a com- 

 parative table of the Lord Howe and Norfolk Island birds is given. Certain 

 changes in nomenclature are made, which will be referred to hereafter (see 

 p. 16). The collection acquired during our stay at Lord Howe Island, through 

 our own efforts and those of Mr. Gr. Nichols, comprising about two hundred 

 skins, has been examined and named by Dr. Eamsay, and although we w^ere not 

 fortunate enough to obtain an equal number, several birds were met with, or 

 seen, not mentioned in the list referred to. I have adopted Dr. Eamsay's 

 list and table, distinguishing the species shot by ourselves with an 

 asterisk (*), whilst those which are additions to the record are indicated by 

 a dagger (t), (see p. 17). 



Of the rapacious birds, the diurnal division is represented in Dr. Eamsay's 

 list by two Fish Eagles, Saliasfer spUcnurus, Vieill, and IlalicBtus Iwcogaster, 

 Lath. "We did not meet with either of those birds, but the existence of a 

 Hawk, Circus Wolfoi, was determined. It frequents the North Eidge, 

 usually in the vicinity of Mount Eliza, soaring high, and carefully 

 keeping out of reach. The bird, however, has at times, after the manner of 

 its kind, been known to visit the settlers' poultry-yards, and is said to play 

 great havoc with the wild kids. 



The nocturnal section of this grouji has for its representative Nlnox 

 looljooJe, Lath., but is known to the Islanders as the "More-pork." 

 jSf. loohooJc frequents thickets of scrub on the hill sides, during the 

 day, and may be found around the settlements at night, probably on the 

 look out for mice, otherwise its food is a mystery, unless it be nocturnal 

 insects. 



The Kingfishers are very abundantly represented by one s]oecies. Halcyon 

 vagans, Less., a New Zealand bird,§ and we were told a comparatively recent 

 addition to the avifauna of the island. It may be constantly seen, flying 

 about the small open places and clearings along the shore, or perched on dead 

 timber, or even seated on small rocks at and below tide-marks. 



It pairs in October, or jjorhaps towards the end of September. Sir W. L. 

 Buller's remarks on the habits of this bird can be very ai)propriately applied 

 to the variety found at Lord Howe : — " It is, moreover, one of those birds 

 that seem instinctively to resort to the habitations of man ; and instead of, 

 like many other indigenous species, decreasing, it thrives and multiplies under 

 the altered physical conditions resulting from the colonization of the country. 

 . . . . During the winter months, especially, it resorts to cultivated 

 grounds in quest of grubs and worms, which at this season constitute its 



* Hill'a Lord 2lowe Island, loc. cit., p. 44. 

 t Proc. Linn. Soc, N. g. Wales, 1883. vii, pt. 1, p. 86. 

 X Tabular List of all the Australian ISirds at present known to tl 

 Sydney, 1888. 



§ See BuUer, Manual of the Birds of New Zealand, 1882, p. 8, t. 3. 



Author, &c., 4to. 



