THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
The following are dates of occurrence about Point Cloates : — 
19th January, 1900 :* One shot on the beach aftfer heavy North-east gale. 
9th to 12th February, 1900 : Several flocks seen. Strong North-east 
winds. 
18th April, 1900 : Large flocks at the flooded white gum flat 25 miles 
inland from Point Cloates; weather unsettled with floods of rain. 
6th December, 1900 : Two were seen on a salt-marsh. 
“ The appearance of this bird is regarded by residents of North-west 
Australia as an indication of the approach of rain, and it is locally known as 
the ‘ Little Storm bird.’ During January I noticed a flight of strange birds, 
which afterwards proved to be this Pratincole, and about a quarter of a mile 
from the telegraph station. I ran for my gun, but was surprised to see the 
birds rising from the ground like a continuous column of smoke and circling 
overhead until they spread out so as to almost obscure the sky. I was 
within one hundred yards of them when the last bird left the ground. After 
soaring and rising in the air they disappeared in a southerly direction. For 
about a month afterwards they were seen in large flocks nearly every day 
coming from the West, and later in the evening returning in that direction. 
They came in a similar manner to a flight of Swifts, scattered over a wide 
area and circling or darting along in pursuit of insects. Those shot had their 
gullets filled with beetles and grasshoppers. Owing to their tender skin I 
found it difficult to obtain specimens. Although a number was shot, those 
which feU any distance were ruined by striking the ground, as the concussion 
invariably knocked off large pieces of skin. The examples secured were shot 
whilst skimming over a swamp, from which they were retrieved by a little 
black urchin about eight years old. The natives were very indignant at my 
shooting these birds, and a deputation from the blacks’ camp explained for 
my edification that if I killed any more a big rain would come and never 
stop until it had washed everything away.”* 
“ Never saw this species anywhere but at Clare Valley, Richmond [North 
Queensland]. Here in 1899 they arrived on 30th December, and remained 
till early in March, being all gone by the middle of the month; between 
these dates they were fairly common, always in company with Stiltia isabella. 
During the following summer I was away, but in 1901 they showed up again 
in their old haunts on the 16th December ; this time they only remained a 
few days.”t 
“ In the summer of 1902-3 the Oriental Pratincole was seemingly behind 
time, the first occasion I saw it being 2nd January, and I saw none after the 
* Heartland, Proc. Roy. Soo. S. Austr., Vol. XXII., p. 160, 1898. 
f Bemey, Emu, Vol. II., p. 213, 1903. 
332 
