NANKEEN CRANE OR NIGHT HERON 115 
be found in numbers at Bream Creek, near Charle- 
mont " homestead, during at least the first eight 
months of the year. In the daytime they sat perched 
in the thick shady boughs of the ti-tree which there 
fringes and overhangs the creek, a tame and sleepy 
company which never stirred unless actually driven 
out of their retreat. At night these birds fly about 
uttering a harsh croak. 
The only Nankeen Crane I have seen in recent 
years was one which I put up from a growth of rushes 
near a salt-lagoon about three miles east of Torquay, 
and an equal distance from the spot on Bream Creek 
referred to above, the date being November nth, 
1911. 
The principal nesting-places of the Nankeen Crane 
are redgum areas along the Murray River and its 
tributaries. The nest is built of sticks, and is- placed 
in a tree near water. 
LITTLE BITTERN 
Ixohrychus minutus dubius 
We have no rarer or more interesting resident species 
in the Geelong district than the Little Bittern, 
whose haunt would appear now to be confined to the 
dense beds of pipe-reeds and tall bulrush which 
grow in and about Lake Reedy. It was probably 
never plentiful. Some 10 inches in total length, 
and looking just what it is, a Bittern in miniature, it 
