the stomach contained fish and part of a small snake, and
from what I have since observed this bird frequents the sea coast. Their
nests are very large, built on bare spots in the shape of a pyramid; some
of them measuring three feet in diameter, and six high. To convey a
better idea of the size and exposed situation of the nests of these
birds, I may state that on low parts of the coast, they were often used
as surveying marks. This projection, which we called Eagle Point, is of a
siliceous sandstone formation, intersected by nearly vertical veins of
quartz, and forms a spur thrown off from a high range four miles to the
south-eastward. We did not find any water in the few miles of country
traversed in the course of the afternoon, yet everything wore a rich
green appearance, and the scenery in some of the dells we crossed, was
very picturesque, and quite alive with birds and insects; flights of
many-coloured parakeets swept by with a rapidity that resembled the
rushing sound of a passing gust of wind. Among the trees, I noticed for
the first time the Banksia, common in Western Australia; Mr. Cunningham,
the botanist who accompanied Captain King, did not consider its
indigenous empire extended to the North-West coast. Of the other kinds,
and which complete all the variety we observed on this part of the
continent, were the mimosa, acacia, papyrus, and two sorts of Eucalyptus;
there were also several plants of the order Leguminosae.

(*Footnote. Figured in Mr. Gould's work on the Birds of Australia as
Ichthyiaetus leucogaster.)

THE SEABREEZE.

We had a breeze throughout the entire day, from North-East till 1
o'clock, then West-North-West till near midnight; this westerly or
seabreeze, reached us within ten minutes of the time it did yesterday, a
regularity we found to prevail the few days we spent on this part of the
coast. The tide (being near the spring) fell in the night 36 feet,
leaving the greater part of the bay dry at low-water. Our observations
for latitude placed Eagle Point in 16 degrees 10 1/4 minutes south.

April 11.

We left with the first streak of dawn, and pursued our course to the
southward, passing inside a small reef lying half a mile west from Eagle
Point. The eastern shore now took a South by West direction, forming
shallow bights, flanked by hills of moderate elevation; our next station
was an islet at the head of Collier Bay, bearing South-South-West 1/2
West 15 miles from Eagle Point: it wa