October, 1931. 
The Queensland Naturalist 
15 
head at night. One knows, of course, that certain of our 
birds are definitely nocturnal, and unless disturbed move 
about only at night. Under this heading are grouped the 
Owls, Nightjars, Mcreporks, Curlews, and certain Herons. 
The birds of this group, though they can see quite well 
in daylight, develop their full powers of sight during the 
hours of darkness, and hunt and catch their food at that 
time. I remember watching a Boobook Owl who, on one 
occasion was perched on the top of a clothes prop in our 
garden, and though he was exposed to a certain amount of 
light from the lamp on the back verandah, it did not seem 
to affect his powers of vision in the dark, for as I watched 
he sailed off to a dark corner of the garden and returned 
immediately with a grasshopper in his beak. 
Another large section of our bird life that does not 
seem to worry whether it is day or night, as far as their 
activities are concerned, are the Waders. I have noticed, 
for a long time past, that the Sea Curlews, Whimbrels, and 
other similar birds who feed on the banks in our bays 
and estauries uncovered at each tide, regulate their lives 
by the incidence of the tides ; working on the banks as the 
tide uncovers same, following it down to low water mark, 
and back again. During the periods of high water they fly 
out in flocks to the ocean beaches of certain islands and 
other undisturbed areas, resting during the few hours of 
high water, and then back again to the banks. As the tides 
are later each day, it follows therefore that these birds are 
found at all hours of the day or night at different times 
in these areas, and seem to be able to secure their food 
equally as well by day or night. Should the fishing be 
good they will often give up hunting at about half of the 
rising tide and rest on the banks themselves before moving 
off to the ocean beaches. I recall watching a small flock of 
Whimbrels thus resting on the sand flats in Tallebudgera 
Creek. They were all standing on one leg, with their heads 
tucked away in the feathers of the back. Every now and 
then one or other of the flock would raise its head and 
take a glance round, and then tuck its head away again 
among the feathers. As I watched, however, one of the 
watchers evidently saw something that didn’t nlease him, 
or her, for it immediately gave a squawk and instantly 
the whole flock was in full flight without any waiting to 
investigate the cause. They circled round for about 15 
minutes, and then decided it was a false alarm, and settled 
back in the same spot, and lost no time in getting back 
into their former attitude. 
Other birds such as Swans seek seclusion in unfre- 
quented snots during the day, and move off into the open 
at night, feeding on the more exposed lakes and streams, 
