THE OOLOGIST. 



121 



up through the tussocks towards the 

 crown of the island, and suddenly the 

 acres of gannets upon their nests, 

 their white plumage gleaming in the 

 morning sun, burst upon us. Rat 

 Island, one of Houtman's Abrolhos 

 group, off the West Australian coast, 

 was another wonderful spectacle, for 

 spread over its 300 acres was not one 

 but three layers of nesting sea birds, 

 averaging about a bird to every square 

 yard. On the top of the seaweed and 

 salt bush were the noddys, beautiful 

 and harmless as doves. On the 

 ground under the bushes was a layer 

 of nesting sooty terns; underneath it 

 the island was honeycombed with the 

 burrows of great myriads of mutton- 

 birds." 



Have any preferences for a particu- 

 lar order of birds grown out of that 

 wide experience? 



"Well, I like, perhaps, the honey 

 eaters best. They are so beautiful, so 

 happy, so graceful; their eggs are a 

 charming feature in a cabinet, with 

 that warm tone of pink running 

 through most of them; and their nests 

 — such daintily woven baskets, swing- 

 ing amongst the foliage of blossoming 

 trees. Curiously enough, the last egg 

 of the honey eaters 1 wanted to com- 

 plete my collection was that of the in- 

 teresting helmeted honey- eater, which 

 is peculiar to Victoria. One Saturday 

 a party of us went up the Olinda 

 Creek, amongst the native hazel, 

 where we found the helmeted honey 

 eater on a beautifully woven nest of 

 bark. Two of us climbed for it, but 

 the bough suddenly broke, and nest, 

 and eggs, and collectors went into the 

 water together. The eggs were saved 

 only through the bird sticking to the 

 nest until it reached the water. In 

 the same way, I wanted the brown 

 eggs of the pilot bird to complete my 

 collection, and I walked up another 

 gully, and sat down within a few feet 

 of the nest. Once on my way from 



Adelaide I left the train at Nhill, and 

 went out into the mallee to look for 

 the nest of the wattle-cheeked honey 

 eater, and was fortunate enough to 

 find it. The bird had been known for 

 60 years, but its eggs then were un- 

 discovered. The eggs of some birds 

 that have been known for a hundred 

 years have yet to be found." 



What do you consider the most rare 

 of the beautiful eggs and nests in 

 your collections? 



"The most beautilul nest, I think, 

 is that of the rose-breasted robin— so 

 neat in its cup shape, so artistically 

 decorated outside with colored mosses 

 and lichens. The most valuable egg 

 is that of the rifle bird, worth more 

 than its weight in gold. When I first 

 went in search of it I asked a settler 

 if he ever found the nests. 'Oh, yes,' 

 he said, 'that's the bird that builds 

 its nest with snake skins." I was 

 amused at the absurdity of it, but the 

 first nest I found had woven into it the 

 cast skin of a carpet snake. The pale 

 green eggs of the cassowary— the larg- 

 est egg in Australia— are getting very 

 rare. They are only found in a little 

 area of Queensland, and it is being 

 taken up by planters." 



You have done nothing in the col- 

 lecting of birds? 



"Very little, except in cases where 

 it was necessary to shoot a bird in 

 order to settle some point in dispute, 

 or where specimens were wanted for 

 the museums. Sometimes I regret 

 lost opportunities, but then it is a 

 satisfaction to look back and feel that 

 one has been able to do this work 

 without destroying much life." 



To what extent has the study of the 

 domestic side of bird-life been covered? 



"There are about 770 species of birds 

 in Australia, and the eggs of perhaps 

 a hundred have yet to be discovered 

 and described. But there is no genus 

 which is unknown to science, and 

 reasoning by analogy, we know pretty 



