Birds of the Macquarie Marshes, New South Wales

Further up the river, beyond the town of Wellington, a large dam is to be constructed to impound the waters of the Macquarie for irrigation purposes.After completion, it will take approxi- mately five years of average rainfall, to fill the dam.This means that the Marshes will receive only local floodings, which are not sufficient to cover the normal areas.Consequently large tracts of lignum, on which the ibis nest, may die and these birds will either cease to nest or be driven from the district.A committee has been formed to endeavour to overcome this problem, and 1" maintain the floodings in the Marshes while the dam is filling.In November, 1948, a party consisting of Messrs. N. Chaffer, J. S. P. Ramsay, and the author visited the area, spending three weeks in studying and photographing the birds.The swamps are so extensive, that in this short period we were, even with the information supplied to us by Mr. Peacocke, only able to cover a part of the area.Consequently our observations must be regarded as incomplete.It will he necessary for more visits to he made and observations published, before a comprehensive survey can be made.