96 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
Nov., 1928 
drumming- of the emu, the cackling of the megapode or 
scrub hen, the clear whistle of the rifle bird, the cooing 
of numerous fruit pigeons, the shrill whistling notes of 
the great palm cockatoo, and a host of other birds. 
As spring advances, so the number of birds increase, 
their ranks being augmented by the thousands of migrants - 
from New Guinea and adjacent islands. If you were on 
the extreme northern point of Cape York, you would se, 
all day long, and day after day for weeks, birds passing 
to the mainland. Many arrive singly, or in twos ana 
threes; others in flocks of from 15 or 20 to a hundred 
or more; some of them skim the surface of the sea, and 
many perish through getting their feathers wet. Others 
fly high, almost out of sight. Not only during the day 
does this migration take place, but also at night. Such 
birds as the Roller or Dollar-bird, Pittas, Kingfishers, and 
Mopokes cross at night. Probably on account of being- 
poor flyers, they cross at night to escape hawks. Many 
of these migrants remain on Cape York to nest, others 
continue their flight south, some even reaching Victoria. 
After the nesting is over, most of the visitors return to 
the islands, though, at times some of them remain with us 
during the winter. These are probably late broods, or 
old birds that do not feel equal to the return journey. 
1 am sorry to say that during a recent visit to the 
North, I was informed on good authority that the number 
of birds has greatly decreased of late years, especially 
so in the case of the beautiful Straits, or Nutmeg pigeons 
(Myristicivora spilorrhoa). At one time these birds 
came over from New Guinea in hundreds of thousands, 
most of them returning to the islands along the coast from 
Cooktown to Rockingham Bay to breed. I have seen 
every tree and bush on some of the islands covered with 
their nests, some even building on the rocks and among 
the ferns, only a single egg is laid. The black butcher 
birds are great robbers of the pigeons’ nests, waiting 
their chance when the pigeon leaves the nest for a short 
while, to seize the egg or young. 
During the day the male pigeons repair to the main- 
land to feed on the wild fruits, returning to the islands 
in the evening to feed their brooding mates. 
Tremendous toll was taken by pot hunters, and as 
population increased in the* North so the slaughter in- 
creased, and thousands of young birds died in the nests. 
For some years these pigeons have been on the totally 
