94 KLAPSTE, Jabiru in Central Australia 13ira [ Watche1

First record of the Jabiru in Central Australia. The range of the J abiru Xenorhynchus asiaticus extends from India through south­ east Asia eastwards to New Guinea and Australia. Though widely distributed the species is nowhere abundant. Overseas it is better known as the Black-necked Stork and the name Jabiru is reserved for Jabiru mysteria, a stork from tropical South America. This bird has unfeathered skin on the he&d and neck with inflatable neck bladder. The name Jabiru comes from the word "Zabiru" of Amazonian Indians. It means "Blown out with the wind." The Saddlebill Stork Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis of Africa is also often called Jabiru. For these reasons it would be better and more accurate to adopt the common name Black-necked Stork for X . asiaticus as is already done elsewhere. The distribution of the Jabiru in Australia is well shown in maps by Slater (1970), Macdonald (1973) and McKean (1976) . It is a great arc which includes coastal and subcoastal areas in the north and the east, as far south as N owra, N.S. W. Bell (1963) described reappearance of the Jabiru in the Sydney dis­ trict. It occurs now in small numbers in an area where it was resident at the time of early settlement. In the Northern Territory its occurrence is known south to about Banka Banka (Condon, 1975). It was very surprising to Peter Klapste and I when we found a Jabiru at Alice Springs Sewage Farm in Central Australia, N.T. The bird was found on December, 28, 1976, at about 1700 hours in the southern part of the farm. It was standing in shallow water in the swampy area with reeds near treatment ponds and walked slowly among other birds, mainly spoonbills and ibises. It was a juvenile, generally dusky-brown in colour, with whitish breast and belly, brown with reddish tinged legs, black bill and brown eyes. We both took photographs of this unusual visitor. The weather was sunny with some clouds. It did not allow us a closer approach than some 40 metres. On one occasion it flew for a short distance, about 50 m, to keep the distance between us. It was under observation for about one hour. Next morning we saw this bird flying in large circles over the farm and later it was lost from sight, flying southwards. Both of us have seen the Jabiru many times before in several coastal localities in north-eastern Queensland - and later on this trip also in the northern part of the Northern Territory and in Queensland's inland (near Mount Isa, and 60 km west of Julia Creek). REFERENCES Bell, H. L., 1963. Distribution of the Ja biru in South-eastern Australia. Emu 63 : 201-206. Braithwaite, L. W. and Stewart, D. A, 1975. Dynamics of Water Bird Populations on the Alice Springs Sewage Farm, N.T. Aust. Wildt. R es. 2 : 85-90. Condon, H. T., 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. I. Non­ passerines. Melbourne: RAOU. September ] LINDSAY Flight speed of Common Bronzewing 95 1~7 '

Macdonald, J. D., 1973. Birds of Australia. Sydney: A. H. & A. W. Reed. McKean, J., 1976. Article "Jabiru" in Complete Book of Aus­ tralian Birds. Sydney: Readers Digest. Slater, P., 1970. A Field Guide to Australian Birds. Non-passer­ ines. Adelaide: Rigby. Jaroslav Klapste, 6/15 Southey St., Elwood, Victoria, 3184.

A note on the flight speed of the Common Bronzewing. Obser­ vations or estimates on flight speeds of Australian birds appear to be uncommon in the literature; this note reports such data for four individual Common Bronzewings ( Phaps chalcoptera). On Friday, December 27, 1974, I was driving north along a dirt road towards Ferris-Macdonald National Park near Adelaide, South Australia. The time was not noted, but the sun was setting. Wind was negligible. Dry open scrubby mallee on a virtually pure sand substrate was on the right hand (eastern) side of the road, and extensive wheatfields on the other. Common Bronze­ wings were numerous along this stretch of road (about five birds per kilometre) , feeding or gathering gravel along the roadside. Disturbed by my approach, these birds would flush and usually fly alongside the vehicle, often for considerable distances. Using the vehicle's speedometer, the flight speeds of these birds were noted whenever the respective velocities of car and bird could be matched for a period of at least ten seconds. One bird flew alongside the vehicle for about one kilometre, and the speedometer showed it to b ~ travelling at a steady 60 kilometres per hour (kph). Another bird a few moments later was timed over a rather shorter distance at 58 kph. A little further on, two other birds flying together and just in front of the car were perceptibly pulling away as the car travelled at 58 kph, but veered off and away from the road before velocities could be more precisely matched. Approximately thirty individuals were seen along this stretch of road. Most, on being disturbed, did not travel with the vehicle long enough to permit exact matching of speeds (i.e., less than ten seconds), or else flushed diagonally away from the car; speeds of only the four individuals sp~cified could be measured with any degree of accuracy. Nevertheless, there was no appreciable dif­ ference in speed between these four individuals and any of the others, and 58-60 kph appeared to be the typical speed attained on being disturbed. The method used is admittedly prone to vari­ ous inaccuracies, but perhaps provides a more precise estimate than could otherwise be obtained without the use of very elabor­ ate equipment. T. R. Lindsay, P.O. Box 8, Malanda, North Queensland, 4885.