An Australian Bird Book Part 5

=17 Brush Bronzewing Pigeon= (Little Bronze), _P. elegans_, A., T.

Nom. r. _sandy_ 13

Upper chestnut-brown; breast blue-gray; throat, crown chestnut; bronze wings; f., crown gray. Seeds.

1 1

=18 Crested Pigeon= (Topknot (e), Crested Bronzewing), _Ocyphaps lophotes_, A. Seeds.

Nom. r. _inland plains_ 13

Upper fawn; crown, under gray; crest black; black bars on wings; tail tipped white; eyes orange; f., sim.

1 1

=19 Wonga-Wonga Pigeon=, _Leucosarcia melanoleuca_, E.A. Seeds, fallen fruits.

Stat. r. _coast-_, (_hillside-_) _brushes_ 15

Back, breast slaty-gray; wings brown; crown, throat, abdomen white; sides spotted black; f., sim.

F. 19. _Gouridae_, Crowned Pigeons, 8 sp. A. (N.G.).

F. 20. _Didunculidae_, Tooth-billed Pigeons, 1 sp. A. (Samoa).

F. 21. _Opisthocomidae_, Hoactzin, 1 sp. Nl.

The birds of Order V. are amongst the successes in the struggle for existence, for they are found the world over.

The Landrailor Corn-Crake, the Little Crake, Spotted Crake, Moor-Hen, Purple Gallinule, and the lobed-toed Coot, of other countries, are represented by similar birds here.

They are largely swamp-dwellers, and conditions about swamps apparently do not vary much from continent to continent. There is a full supply of vegetable and animal food, and there is good shelter in the thick reed-beds. The smaller members of the family are seldom seen, for they skulk amongst the reeds, and seldom show themselves.

Many of these birds are long-toed, and are beautifully adapted for life about the soft mud and floating vegetation of lagoons and swamps.

Though the feet are not webbed, several of these swamp-dwellers swim well. Thus the Little Crake is an expert swimmer and diver.

There is one Australian bird not represented in other countries.

This is the handsome, bantam-like Black-tailed Native-Hen. At long intervals the birds appear in thousands, and, being largely vegetable feeders, they have sometimes done considerable damage to crops.

During one such irruption in 1846, the birds invaded the streets of Adelaide. Others invaded the Geraldton district, and even reached Perth in 1886. Northern Victoria was visited in 1909.

Some of the members of this group are known to all; indeed, when you have finished reading this lecture, I expect to have created in your mind an idea that bird study is very simple--that you know at least one of each of the groups of birds. One further advantage of bird study is that so few birds are found in any district. Thus, only 880 birds have ever been recorded from Australia, whereas there are over 9,000 kinds of native flowering plants, not to mention non-flowering plants. In very few districts could a list of 100 different kinds of birds be compiled in one year.

Again, while it is impossible to talk popularly of native plants, because they have no common names, that does not apply to birds, for bird-lovers have given a simple name to each bird. Even children, therefore, can talk definitely and exactly about the different kinds.

This is a great advantage. Again, as birds are living, moving, loving, and beautiful animals, they have always been favorite objects of study, and so we know more about them than about any other division of the animal kingdom. Thus you will, I hope, find that you know far more about the subject than you at first thought.

[Page 18b]

ORDER V.--RALLIFORMES.

F. 22. RALLIDAE (16), RAILS, 204 sp.--68(60)A., 37(18)O., 18(0)P., 37(24)E., 17(7)Nc., 72(65)Nl.

4 17

=20 Slate-breasted Rail= (Short-toed), Lewin Water-Rail, _Eulabeornis (Hypotaenidia) brachypus_, A., T., Auckland Is.

=vt. Eur. Water-Rail.

[~20 _Rallus pectoralis._]

Stat. r. _rivers_, _lagoons_ 8.5

Upper blackish striped olive; wings, flanks, abdomen barred black, white; throat, breast, slate-gray; f., duller.

=21* Pectoral Rail=, Landrail, _E. philippinensis_, Malay Arch.

to A., N.Z., Pac. Is. =vt. Eur. Corn-Crake (Landrail); f., young sim. Insects, gra.s.s.

Mig. c. _gra.s.sy_ 10.5

Upper brown spotted white; under finely-barred black; white; sandy-buff bar on chest; light stripe above eye.

4 17

=22* Australian Spotted Crake=, Water-Crake, _Porzana fluminea_, A.

=vt. Eur. Spotted Crake.

Stat. r. _rivers_ 7

Upper dark-brown, spotted white; abdomen, flanks blackish barred white; breast gray; swims; f., sim. Insects.

[Ill.u.s.tration: [21] [22] [26] [27] [30] [67] [71] [72] [73]]

=21= Pectoral Rail =22= Australian Spotted Crake =26= Black Moor-Hen =27= Bald Coot =30= h.o.a.ry-headed Grebe =67= Crested Tern =71= White-faced Ternlet =72= Silver Gull =73= Pacific Gull

[Page 22]

[Ill.u.s.tration: [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28]]

=23 Australian Little Crake=, _P. pal.u.s.tris_, A. =vt. Eur.

Little Crake.

Stat. r. _river_, _reed-beds_ 6

Upper rusty-brown; throat, breast gray; crown blackish; flanks, lower-abdomen barred black, white; swims, dives; f., sim.

Water-animals.