118 Informal ion respecting Zoological Travellers. 



rich chestnut murk on the hack and rump, in other respects very like 

 my C. pvnctatwn, and precisely of the same generic form. These 

 birds differ more in habits and oeconomy from the true thrushes than 

 their outward appearance indicates ; the C.punctatum gives preference 

 to rich scrubby brushwood, depending for security more on the speed 

 with which it runs than upon its powers of flight, which are limited; 

 its carelessly constructed nest is placed on the ground ; the eggs, two 

 in number, arc of a large size ; the young run immediately after they 

 arc hatched : all but the last fact I have myself verified, and I re- 

 ceived it from such authority as leaves little doubt in my own mind 

 Upon the subject ; when flushed it makes the same burring noise as 

 the quail and partridge, and has a whistling note somewhat resem- 

 bling that of the former. What a beautiful analogy, you will say, does 

 this bird present in its own circle to the Rasores ! Two species of 

 Ptilotis ; a bird whose form approaches nearly to Orpheus ; two spe- 

 cies of Sericornis, &c. 



"From the head of lake Alexandrina northwards, for the distance of 

 nearly a hundred miles, and in breadth nearly thirty or forty, appears 

 from the top of the range to be one flat or dead level covered with 

 low shrub-like trees, of a character quite different from any I have 

 seen elsew r here, particularly that portion which lies at the foot of the 

 eastern range. They are of the most beautiful and singular forms 

 that can be imagined ; this is succeeded by a belt of dense dwarf 

 Eucalypti, through the centre of which the river Murray winds its 

 course, the banks only being studded with Gums of another and 

 larger species. 



" Through the kindness of Col. Gawler, the Governor, and Capt. 

 Sturt, whom I accompanied into the interior on an especial expedi- 

 tion of survey, I was provided with horses, a cart, and a small com- 

 pany, with the view of reaching the Murray. Having with difficulty 

 crossed the range over an entire new country, and penetrated to the 

 centre of the dense Eucalypti scrub alluded to, in which I spent a 

 night and part of two days without water for my horses, I was com- 

 pelled, much to my regret, to beat a retreat back to the ranges, in 

 the gullies of which I even found a difficulty in obtaining water. 

 During a week's stay under the ranges I made daily visits to this rich 

 arboretum, which would have served me to investigate until this time 

 without exhausting its treasures ; but, alas ! our provisions failing, we 

 were obliged to retrace our steps, and after visiting Kangaroo Island 

 I returned to New South Wales in order to carry out another expe- 

 dition to the interior. Nearly a fortnight was occupied in Sydney 

 in preparing for the journey. My men proceed with the drays to 



