HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



217 



A NATURALIST ALL AT SEA. 



By C. P. 



[Continued from page 199-] 



T was in the Blue 

 Mountains that I 

 first saw parrots in 

 their wild and 

 natural condition. 

 It was after a severe 

 thunderstorm at 

 Katoomba ; all 

 bird-life seemed ex- 

 ceptionally restless. 

 A flock of parrots 

 came up from the 

 fastnesses of the 

 forest — 1000 feet 

 below in the valley. 

 They were chiefly 

 Rosellas and Lories, 

 brilliant enough in 

 plumage, but fool- 

 ish and discordant 

 birds. They rested 

 on the telegraph wires or among the branches of 

 gum-tree, utterly regardless of our presence ; sitting 

 to be stared at with field-glasses, with all the 

 sang-froid of a dowager in her opera-box. But, 

 for my part, I would rather see a parrot in a cage 

 — and hear him swear — than have them in native 

 wildness, there is an incongruity in such garish 

 colour and clatter. On board the "Oceana," 

 returning home to England, we had a splendid 

 collection of living parrots and cockatoos, the 

 property of various passengers. I had ample oppor- 

 tunity of comparing the various Australian species. 

 Besides the yellow crested cockatoo (C. galerita) 

 there was the attractive Leadbeater's species (C. 

 leadbeateri), white with tinges of red in the breast, 

 and at the base of the crest. But, perhaps, the finest 

 of all was a nearly black fellow of great size. I think 

 he is known as the Funereal cockatoo. Besides 

 these we had the pearl-grey little parakeet cockatoo, 

 rosellas, love-birds, grey parrots with rose-coloured 

 No. 286.— October 1888. 



heads, white parrots with blue eyes and breast 

 dashed with crimson, with numerous green and 

 yellow and blue species. 



Mr. Etheridge showed me at the Museum in 

 Sydney a tame dingo, a somewhat uncommon 

 specimen ; their nature is treacherous, and even with 

 this young dog nobody but his master could safely 

 touch him. In appearance it reminded me of a lean 

 Colley with the startled ferocity of the wolf; the 

 colour being tawny yellow, shading to brown on the 

 back. Of course this animal is one of the few non- 

 marsupials of Australia. There is now ample 

 evidence of its existence back into prehistoric ages ; 

 bones occur in caves of Pleistocene period. 



There is a fine series of kangaroos in the 

 Melbourne Zoological Gardens, ranging from the 

 smaller "Wallabys to the giant " old men" species, 

 the specific distinctions appeared to me terribly 

 puzzling ; in fact, the chief variation appears in size, 

 colour and habit, rather than structural change ; the 

 intermediate gradations are wonderfully close. 



I saw an echidna burrowing in the ground, the 

 porcupine-like bristles of the back only visible above 

 ground ; the platypus I saw only in a pickle-tub, and 

 the eggs preserved in spirits — perhaps half the size of 

 pigeons'-eggs. In the Melbourne gardens a couple of 

 the so-called bears reposed peacefully in a gum-tree. 

 I do not suppose they would attack a flea. No protec- 

 tion is needed, so they have liberty sufficient to 

 clamber from tree to tree ; as a matter of fact they 

 never seem to move, they are very small, with grey- 

 brown fur. 



The most attractive spot I traversed in the 

 Blue Mountains was Nellie's Glen, a stupendous 

 ravine hardly less than a thousand feet in depth. 

 Here noble tree-ferns afforded a welcome shelter, 

 Hymenophyllum and various small ferns covered the 

 face of the moist rock. Large yellow-breasted 

 robins flitted overhead and the irresistible laughter 

 of the jackass, hidden away in the tall gums or 

 wattles, compelled us to join in his merriment. 



