attempts to catch them failed. Another pair at one time, accompanied by three young ones, was also observed, and it is thought the female nested in the firebox of a derelict portable boiler standing a little distance from the railway. I visited a series of the blow-holes similar to those described by Captain White, which exist some miles to the west of Loongana. The upward current of air in some of them was very strong, and possibly this was the cause of their not being tenanted by any Owls. In one only did I see traces of bird-life. Owls are known at the large railway depot at Rawlinna, and are said to roost in cavernous hollows there. But at Naretha the only evidence of their presence was the record of one being caught by the foot in a trap set for rabbits. Evidently they have not spread so far westward on the plain, up to the present. Barn Owls, for all that, occur in the south-west of this State, as I have seen individuals in a dense tea-tree swamp near my own home.
At Zanthus I shot one or two Crows for identification purposes. In point of size they agreed closely with those obtained by Mr. Sid. W. Jackson, on the Diamantina River, Western Queensland. At Haig a nest in a large bush was pointed out to me as a Crow's nest, and I met with one or two young birds near at hand. But viewed through a field glass they looked more like Ravens. The species was rare out on the plain proper.
Mr. Gibson records a second species of Cuckoo-Shrike, seen but not obtained. I saw only the Black-faced (Graucalus novæ-hollandiæ), but both at Zanthus and Naretha small parties of the Ground Cuckoo-Shrike (Pteropodocys maxima) were noted; and I obtained a nest of three typical eggs, placed in a half-dead tree, standing in a large area of dead and bleached bushes. The nest was the usual substantial structure of very fine grasses thickly interwoven with fur and spiders' webs.
At Zanthus I noted four species of the genus Meliphaga, viz.—sonora, ornata, plumula, and leucotis. The last named species was very local. At Naretha, only the Singing Honey-eater (M. sonora) was present. It was breeding commonly, and I found a number of nests containing both eggs and young. The eggs varied much in size and shape, and in one case were nearly colourless. This species probably extends right across the plain, as I found pairs in the dongas at Loongana. During August the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis) was very common at Naretha. Numbers passed on migration, and odd pairs, I think, remained to breed. A nest that had been disturbed by a lizard or other marauder was noticed. Near Haig I noted a few pairs in the dongas, and occasionally in the timber, where they were feeding amongst the large clumps of mistletoe.
The only other Honeyeater observed on the plains were one or two White-fronted Honeyeaters (Glyciphda albifrons), possibly blown out of their course by the heavy westerly gales in October.
