146 THE FIJOHT OF BIRDS. 



Unattractive as these creatures are, they are perfectly harmless — feeding 

 on grass — and. frota the immense number of Wombat holes about the sea- 

 coast in this neighbourhood, seem to have some -very extensive settlements 

 '^under the sod," They burrow through masses of the soft shelly stone 

 peculiar to this place, and during the hreeding-season I have never seen the 

 male in the same hole loith the dam. 



There is something particularly exhilarating and inspiriting in the shooting 

 of Wombats; the stealing out at dead of night with stealthy footsteps; 

 now and again stopping your breath almost, to listen for the sound of the 

 animal grazing, or scratching to free himself from the enormous ticks which 

 torment him; the stalking on hands and knees, or crawling along on face 

 and hands, as you near his subterraneous abode. A treacherous twig snaps! 

 and away he scuttles, with a motion peculiar to himself, to the mouth of 

 his hole, where he remains for a few moments with ears erect, until fear 

 gives way to hunger, and he again makes his appearance — anxious moments 

 these for the sportsman! the heart beats high — one single rustle and all 

 hopes are gone; but gently and more gently still the gun is brought to 

 the shoulder — noiselessly cocked, but not before the timid animal has ob- 

 served the glistening of the moonbeams on the barrel, and off he scuttles 

 again — but too late this time, his head being pierced through by a bullet, 

 and the sportsman just manages to rush to the mouth of the burrow in 

 time to prevent his crawling into it to die. 



In every adult individual I have ever seen, the ''^spinal extenuation" — 

 a tail to all intents and purposes — has been between three and four inches 

 in length. I have noticed the almost entire absence of fat in every speci- 

 men I have skinned, particularly in the female; and the idea of boiling 

 it down to make candles is really too absurd to notice. 



So far from being as Swainson asserts, ^^very slow in its motions," its 

 pace, when disturbed, is remarkably rapid; and one old fellow, almost white 

 with age, for some time eluded me by his agility, 



Wannambool, Australia, Febrtiary 8th., 1856. 



THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS. 



BY 0. S. ROUND, ESQ. 



Each particular bird is known almost to a certainty by its general ap- 

 pearance and manner of flying, by those who have any pretensions to the 

 name of naturalists; for although there are so many kinds even in our own 

 small island, these have all manners of motion of their own as distinct and 

 distinguishable as our own countenances. In birds of the same order it is 

 chiefly that a man's discrimination is requisite, for the characters of others 



