NOTES FROM POINT CL0ATE8, N.W. AUSTRAL TA. 261 



At the end of September, when visiting my inland run, there 

 were great flocks of Straw-necked Ibis (Geronticus spinicollis) 

 about the pools and adjoining flats. When there again on 

 Nov. 3rd, my man in charge of stock told me that about the 

 middle of October he had sent two boys with the bullock-cart 

 eight miles down the creek to bring back a large iron tank swept 

 away by the floods. They returned with quantities of Ibis's 

 eggs, and said they had eaten a great many, and more were left; 

 " can't finish 'um." As a colony of these birds is a rare sight — 

 in fact, I do not know if there is any record of their breeding in 

 West Australia — I drove down, but found most of the young 

 birds had fledged, and only a few addled eggs were left in the 

 nests. Of these I secured about a score. The nests were in 

 hundreds, mostly built on low bushes flattened down by the 

 flood, about three feet from the ground. Some of the bushes 

 contained a cluster of six or eight nests, all interbuilt ; they 

 were of flat form, lined with white gum-leaves. A few nests 

 were built on the ground. The colony must have been a most 

 interesting sight when all the birds were there. A few full- 

 grown young were about which could not fly. The native with 

 me caught several, and of course started killing them all. How- 

 ever, I was in time to save one, and brought it back to the camp, 

 where in a few hours it seemed quite content; but, as it was 

 liable to stray too far away in pursuit of its favourite grass- 

 hoppers, we tethered one leg by a string, and fed it out of a 

 damper-dish in which pieces of bread and meat were dropped. 

 The bird would stand inside, and feel about for the lumps, 

 holding its beak mostly in a horizontal position, at times almost 

 reversing its head. After a meal it would attack, with a sharp 

 scream, some of the fowls or young Cockatoos as far as its 

 tether would permit ; its long reach of bill giving it all the 

 advantage. It is now at the house, with full liberty. It 

 feeds readily from the hand, and will attack the Dogs and Cats 

 if they venture too close. Two specimens of the rare Painted 

 Finch {Emhlema picta) were obtained here, and others seen ; 

 they had doubtless bred in the neighbourhood. 



To our surprise, this year the large pools at my inland run 

 on the Cardabia Creek contained numbers of small fish from four 

 to six inches in length, and I hear they also occur in the Lyndon 



