again, show a strong family likeness, and all seem to haunt dense cover, in which they hide their nests. There is, however, a wide difference in their call-notes. This is especially marked in the case of the Grasshopper-Warbler. In flight the Spinifex-Bird seems much encumbered by its long, broad tail, which is not borne horizontally, but in a semi-drooping fashion. The flight is performed in a straight line, at a very low elevation, and in a feeble, fluttering manner, as though the bird was anxious at the first chance to drop into cover.
Puffinus sphenurus. Wedge-tailed Petrel.—This Petrel breeds on Fortescue Island, Round Island, and Double Island. The colony, however, on the latter locality is a comparatively small one. Fortescue Island is one of the larger islands of the Dampier Group, and so numerous are the burrows there that walking is somewhat painful, owing to the frequency with which the earth collapses underfoot. Round Island is, on the contrary, a very small island, and the overflowing Petrel population is driven to the shore, where I found pairs sheltering in burrows excavated under the innumerable slabs of sandstone thrown up by the heavy gales which not infrequently occur in these latitudes. I tried in vain to secure some of these birds by driving them out with a long stick. They either backed into some crevice, whence I could not dislodge them, or escaped through the burrow having a double outlet. We anchored all night near Round Island, and I had some difficulty in persuading my boatman that the sounds we heard were not people calling, but due to the Petrels. On Double Island, where I obtained eggs the previous November, some of the burrows were not so deep, and I managed to seize a pair of birds. They both bit and scratched savagely, and I tried in vain to put one in my collecting bag whilst I dealt with the other. I had perforce to let one bird go, as my hand was streaming with blood, and I could do nothing with the pair of them.
Note.—Judged by the large series of clutches of Haliæetiis leucogaster (White-bellied Sea-Eagle) and Pandion leucocephalus (White-headed Osprey) sent in by Mr. Whitlock, eggs of the first-named from N.W. Australia are much rounder in shape than those of the eastern bird, while I have nothing from the east so highly coloured as the North-Western Pandion's eggs, some of them being of most brilliant shades. The bright coloration of the North- West eggs does not apply to a four-egg clutch secured at Dirk Hartog Island, which locality, however, cannot be termed in the North-West. One highly-coloured egg taken at Shoal Island, Dampier Group, from a nest containing also a young bird, has the ground colour a bright yellow shade, as if saturated with oil. I think the addled egg had been in contact with fish brought as food for the sitting bird or for the nestling. — Henry L. White. Belltrees, Scone, N.S.W., 11/3/19.
We are glad to state that our friend, Mr. Tom Carter, M.B.O.U., has rejoined the Union. He left through some misunderstanding, which the Council very much regretted; but the matter has now been cleared up satisfactorily.
