129 
Birds. 
If the travellers who visited King George’s Sound before us 
have only found very few birds, it is because they have confined 
their excursions to the neighbourhood of the bay, which certainly 
has few of them ; but in the forests adjoining the rivers named 
French and English (King and Kalgan), we found a considerable 
number and variety amongst the parrots and honey-eaters. New 
Holland is the home of these latter ; but all the coastal species, even 
at Port Jackson, are little known. 
A small black petrel exists in great numbers on the islets of 
King George’s Sound. The aboriginal women, who lived with the 
English seal-fishers, brought us a large number every day; they said 
that they obtained them in holes, and it is a remarkable fact that 
they were all males. Were they nesting at this period, which was 
the month of October; and in that case why were they alone? We 
could not have been mistaken as to the sex, because they brought 
them plucked and cleaned. The genital organs alone remained and 
they were very well developed. The flesh of these birds was useful 
for feeding the dogs rather than the men. 
These Australian countries are also the refuge of gulls, terns, 
and pelicans. The little Garden Island seems to be their place of 
special choice, and myriads of these birds were gathered together 
there. We also found there oyster-catchers and black swans. A 
flight of 30 or 40 pelicans rose into the air as we approached the 
island, where these birds appeared to be living. We found a dozen 
young pelicans. The English brought us some blue penguins and 
pretty little turtle-doves with metallic reflections. 
Ascending Frenchman’s River we met with flocks of pelicans, 
cereopsis, black swans, white herons, musk ducks, and two other 
species of ducks. We killed a black swan, a brown duck, and two 
herons. M. Dumont D’Urville killed some pretty little cuckoos with 
green reflections on the back. 
We only saw a single cassowary of large size, which we pur- 
sued without capturing it. Descriptions and figures are given of : — 
Muscicapa vittata, new sp., 1 King George’s Sound. 
Muscicapa georgiana, new sp., 2 King George’s Sound. 
Muscicapa gularis , new sp., 3 King George’s Sound. 
Saxicola splendens, new sp. 4 — Its habits are those of the 
blue wren. Like It, it carries its tail upright and it is ceaselessly in 
movement on the small bushes among which it lives. We obtained 
this beautiful wren at King George’s Sound. 
Fringilla oculata, new sp. 5 — This bird inhabits King 
George’s Sound. It is rare there. 
1 Amaurodryas vittata, Q. and G. (Dusky Robin). 
3 Eopsaltria georgiana, Q. and G. (White-breasted Shrike Robin). 
3 Eopsaltria griseicapilla, Vieillot. (Grey-breasted Shrike Robin). 
4 Malurus splendens, Q. and G. (Banded Wren). 
5 Zonaeginthus oculatus, Q. and G. (Red-eared Finch). 
