THE TASMANIA N NATURALIST 
16 
stroll down by one of the backwaters on Gala, and there found our first 
nest, that of the Yellow-rumped Tit (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa) with the 
usual complement of three white eggs. This was soon followed up by 
finding a nest of the Native Hen (Tribonyx mortieri) from which the 
young birds scrambled out as soon as we caught sight of them. This 
was rather disconcerting as it pointed to the conclusion that, as to these 
birds at any rate, we were rather late in the season. 
After spending some time on the marshes with only slight success, 
we arrived at a point where the salt water of Moulting Lagoon met the 
fresh water coming from the marshes, and a bright look-out was kept for 
Rails, and our expectations in this respect were to some extent fulfilled, 
as on wading out some ten or fifteen yards from the shore to a small 
patch of reeds, I disturbed a Lewin’s Water Rail (Hypotaenidia 
brachypus), who was quite as interested in me as I was in him, and came 
up to me and stood for over half a minute within three feet, all the time 
giving vent to a sharp croaking noise. I spent a considerable time 
searching for his nest, but owing to the immense size of the marsh here, 
and number of likely places, failed to find any trace of it. The only 
nests found during the time I was searching for the Rail’s were a 
Malurus’ with two eggs, and several native hens which had lately con¬ 
tained eggs and young. We now made our way to the more open water 
of the lagoon, and whilst we discussed our lunch we watched large 
numbers of swans, both young and old, as they disported themselves on 
the broad waters of the bay. We were also much interested in a small 
body of pelicans, consisting of twelve or fourteen full-grown birds, one of 
which flew across the bay and settled within a quarter of a mile of where 
we were seated, which gave us a splendid opportunity of observing him 
through the glasses. We also saw several swans’ nests, one of which had 
a swan sitting on it. This raised our hopes of being able to get a photo 
of the nest and eggs of this line bird, but as the nest was somewhat over 
half a mile out in the bay we decided to leave this task till we could get 
a boat which we had arranged for the next day but one. After lunch 
we looked through some reeds, where we found several nests of the little 
grass bird (Meglaurus gramineus), but as they were only normal we did 
not disturb them. We then wended our way on to a small elevation, 
from where we could get an extended view of the bay, and from there a 
sight met our gaze which neither of us had ever dreamed of. As far as 
the eye could reach there were swans in countless numbers, which we 
afterwards estimated to be between eight and ten thousand. On our 
return journey we saw two hawk’s nests, one of which contained young 
birds, but as we did not see the old birds we could not identify them. 
We also found a nest of Miner (Manorhina garrula) containing three 
rather fine eggs, of which a photo was taken, but, alas, the plate was 
broken in travelling. Nests of the Wood Swallow (Artamus sordidus) 
were found ; one containing two young and one egg, and the other con¬ 
taining five eggs, which is a record as far as my experience goes of these 
birds. 
The next two days were employed in searching the marshes for 
Rails and other wading birds, but with small success ; a photo being 
