Birds of the northern islands of the Houtman Abrolhos.

Abstract

North Island and the larger islands of the Wallabi Group, consisting partly of continental dunes, have a much richer flora and terrestrial fauna than the southern half of the Houtman Abrolhos, but, lacking breeding colonies of such spectacular birds as the noddies, they have not received from ornithologists so much attention as the southern islands. This paper is an annotated list of the 54 species of birds recorded from North Island and the Wallabi Group. The avifauna consists of 12 land-birds, six of which are certainly resident, and 42 marine and littoral species, of which 13 are resident and five are regular breeding visitors.