THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Mr. Charles F. Belcher teUs me ‘‘ this guU is common all along the southern 
coast of Victoria, greatly exceeding the large Pacific gulls in numbers. It 
does not, however, appear to breed anywhere on the mainland west of Port 
Phillip, though there are rookeries in islands just off the coast near Yambuk 
and Portland. Ordinarily it is more plentiful in the waters of bays than along 
the ocean beach. In November, 1901, I found a colony of breeding birds 
on Storehouse Island, Bass Straits ; the nests were invariably hollows in grass 
tussocks.” 
Mr. G. A. Keartland* writes : “ These handsome guUs seem equally at 
home in either salt or fresh water, and in stormy weather large flocks visit the 
swamps at Werribee and near Princes Bridge. They follow every vessel in 
Hobson’s Bay, and feed on the offal thrown overboard. Owing to the beauty 
and grace of their plumage, and usefulness as insect destroyers, they are in 
request as garden pets.” 
Mr. H. Quineyt of Mortlake, Victoria, records these birds nesting at 
Ennendale, in the Western District, many miles from the sea. The swamp 
is about half a mile long by a quarter broad. The nests are made on 
the tussocks, which are rather sparsely spread over nearly the whole of 
the swamp. 
Mr. Frank S. Smith sends me the following : “ These gulls, though of course 
essentially sea birds, have, in the western district of Victoria, developed a 
habit of nesting inland, on several of the lakes which are so numerous in the 
district. There is an island at the north end of Lake Corangamite, which 
is a regular nesting-place of theirs, and can really be termed a gull rookery. 
It is visited often in the season, by professional bird-catchers, who take the 
young gulls, and seU them in the neighbouring towns as garden-pets. I have 
also seen these gulls on many other lakes, such as Nerrin Nerrin, and 
Colangulac (near Camperdown). Some of these lakes are 60 and 70 miles 
from the sea. Their nests and young have been found on Colangulac and on 
other lakes further north. The gulls themselves are in numbers on these 
lakes, and have been seen as far north as the dividing range, near Dunkeld. 
I have also heard of them across this range in the Wimmera, from a careful 
observer.” 
Mr. Arthur Wilson, { of Geelong, Victoria, gives the following interesting 
account: “During last harvest the crops, particularly those round Jan 
Juc, and further south of Geelong, were visited with the caterpillar pest. 
When the crops were ripe for cutting, these caterpillars would raid the farms 
* Birds Melh. Distr., p. 119, 1900. 
t Emu, Vol. V., p. 203, 1908. 
ii&.,p. 83, 1905. 
450 
