THE BIRDS OF COOI.ABAH AND BRKWARRINA^NORTH. 123 



Although 1 walked miles every day, it was remarkable that 

 most of the birds were obtained in the Wilga scrub close to 

 the hotel, or immediately around the railway station. At the 

 time of my visit, the Welcome Swallow (Hirundo tieoxena) was 

 feeding young iu a nest in the kitchen of the hotel, the Yellow- 

 throated Miner (}fi/za}itlui ffavigula) was similarly engaged at 

 a nest iu a tree opposite my bedroom window, while a White- 

 plumed Honey-eater (Ptilotis penicillata) was sitting on a 

 nest in the drooping leafy twigs of a gum near the tank. 



On the 14th, just before leaving for Brewarrina, 1 was asked 

 to go and see a bird-catcher's call birds in the stables of the 

 hotel. Among them he had a beautifully plumaged adult male 

 Barraband's Parrakeet, or " Green-leek " (Polytells barrabandi) 

 which he considered rare, also a Leadbeater's Cockatoo, or 

 "Major Mitchell," (Cacatua leudbeateri), a female Red- 

 winged Parrot or " Bello-wing " (Ptistes erythropterus), and 

 some Warbling Grass-Parrakeets or "Budgerigar's" (Melop- 

 sittacus undulatus). 



At Brewarrina early next morning 1 was awakened by the 

 twittering notes of birds, and on opening my bedroom door 

 which led on to the balcouj^ found it proceeded from a half 

 dozen Tree Swallows (Petrochelidon vigrieans), perched on the 

 telegi'aph wires, close by. Afterwards I discovered this 

 species was the commonest bird in the town. 



Bi'ewarrina, on the Darling River, five hundred and eighteen 

 miles north-west of Sydney, and the longest railway journey 

 in the State, is in the black soil country. 



Chief among the sights of Brewarrina is its ancient aborigi- 

 nal fish-traps, made of stones, of the formation of which, no 

 tradition has been handed down to the present dusky inhabi- 

 tants of the soil. These traps are known locally to the resi- 

 dents of Brewarrina as " The Fisheries," a somewhat mis- 

 leading term, but in such general constant use, that I shall 

 here adopt it. This series of fish-traps or "yards " is built in 

 the Darling River, at a place known as "The Rocks," a natural 

 broken rocky barrier, close to Bathurst Sti'eet, the main 

 thoroughfare of the town, reaching from nearly one side of the 

 river to the other, and extending upwards for about a distance 

 of three hundred yards. When I first saw " The Fishei-ies" on 



