the female in several instances running down to the adjacent mudflat in a manner suggestive of a nesting bird. Unfortunately, the birds had selected a nesting-site where bandicoots abounded, and I think the latter in every case devoured the eggs.
Geopelia humeralis. Barred-shouldered Dove.—Found on Barrow Island and the neighbouring Double Island. These "Mangrove Doves" were very common near my camp, and frequented both the mangroves and the large snake-wood bushes. A pair or two were nesting in a thicket of Brachychiton trees more in the interior of the island, and other pairs on a small islet clothed in part with mangroves, on the eastern side of the anchorage. The nests were poor structures of twigs and grasses, generally placed at a height of 3 or 4 feet from the ground. The eggs were two in number. One nest contained three eggs, but the third egg obviously belonged to another clutch. Incubation lasts three weeks. This Dove was the earliest land-bird to commence calling at daybreak. They often roosted just above my tent.
Anthus australis. "Barrow Island" Pipit.—This species was sparingly distributed over all those parts of Barrow Island I visited. It appears to be a lighter-coloured form of the mainland species, the dark centres to the feathers being ill-defined and paler. It is probably identical with a variety recently described by Mr. G. M. Mathews from the Montebello Group. I found two nests, each containing three eggs. They were both constructed outwardly of grasses and lined with a little wallaby fur. One was in a cavity of the rocky flooring of an islet; the other in a patch of heath-like plants growing just above high-tide line.
Ptilotis sonora. Singing Honey-eater.—Common wherever suitable cover existed on Barrow Island and Double Island, but absent from the smaller islands of the Archipelago. At the time of my visit it was breeding in a half-hearted manner, and I don't think I noted more than seven nests. They were in a variety of situations, usually without any attempt at concealment. I took eggs from a nest in the mangroves, and saw another, containing a single egg, attached to the leaves of a Hibiscus plant. The strong winds eventually capsized this nest. When a nest was abandoned it was invariably pulled to pieces and the material used in the construction of a new nest.
Tæniopygia castanotis. Chestnut-eared Finch.—I was surprised to meet with this Finch, which I had hitherto considered inseparable from fresh water. It was very uncommon, however, and I met only two small parties. I knew two were nesting near my camp, but for a long time they baffled me. At length I found the nest accidentally by observing the female fly from a bunch of seaweed attached to the extremity of a long mangrove branch. My boatman had actually fastened a mooring-rope to this limb without seeing the nest. The nest was merely an accidental cavity in the seaweed left by high tides; it was profusely lined with Doves' feathers, and contained five eggs, almost hatched.
Malurus edouardi. Barrow Island Pied-Wren.—To obtain information respecting the nesting habits of this Wren was one of the objects of my visit to Barrow Island. I had discovered its haunts during
