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Show 342 MR. E. P. RAMSAY ON THE BIRDS OF [Apr. 17, met with in similar situations to the preceding (H. alba). I found it a considerable distance inland on the rivers Hunter, Clarence, and Richmond ; it is more plentiful to the northward ol New South Wales, and found rather numerous in Moreton Bay and Wide Bay, and at the mouth of the Fitzroy river, and near Port Denison. It is not a common species about Cardwell; but Inspector Johnstone, of the Herbert river, informed me that they were more plentiful a little further north, on the Johnstone river and Moryllian harbour. 233. HERODIAS GARZETTA. Herodias garzetta, Gould, Handbk. B. Austr. ii. p. 305. This species is a very scarce bird on the Australian coast; I have never met with it but once in a state of nature, at the mouth of the Brisbane river. I have seen only three examples in Australian collections, all of them obtained from Queensland. 234. DEMIEGRETTA JUGULARIS. Demiegretta jugularis, Gould, Handbk. B. Austr. ii. sp. 555 & 556, pp. 307-309. Demiegretta greyi, ibid. p. 309. I did not meet with this species myself; but Mr. George Masters informs me that it is found rather plentiful on all the reefs in Northern Queensland, and that D. jugularis and D. greyi are one and the same species. From an examination of a fine series of these birds in the Macleayan Museum at Elizabeth Bay, I quite concur with Mr. Gould's and Mr. Masters's opinion. Remains of the slaty blue being found on the primaries and wing-coverts of some of the white birds tends to prove that D. greyi is but the adult of D. jugularis. 235. NYCTICORAX CALEDONICUS. Nycticorax caledonicus, Gould, Handbk. B. Austr. ii. p. 311. This handsome species has a very extensive range, it is plentiful, and breeds among the mangroves on the Hunter river, and as far south as Illawarra. It is found equally plentiful as far north as Cardwell, where, on the Herbert river, it was one of the most common species. Mr. Gould remarks that it "is universally dispersed over the continent of Australia." I have also seen what I believe to be a young bird of this species from New Ireland, collected there by the Rev. G. Brown. 236. BOTAURUS POICILOPTILUS. Botaurus poiciloptilus, Gould, Handbk. B. Austr. ii. p. 313. The Australian Bittern is far more plentiful in the Illawarra and southern districts of New South Wales than in any other part of the country I have visited. I have seen specimens from the lakes and marshes in the southern parts of Victoria, near Ballarat, and have also noticed it on the Herbert river, in the Rockingham-Bay district, where it is considered a rare bird, although that part of the country |