130 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



On Plate xxviii., fig. 1, will be seen the reproduction of a 

 photograph of a mirage on Cato Plains, taken at 3 p.m. on 

 the afternoon of the 2l8t October, 1915. These mirages were 

 frequently to be seen in this dead level locality, after crossing 

 the bridge over the Barwon River, shown on the same plate, Fig. 

 2, about a mile away from the billabong bridge and town. All 

 of these optical illusions assumed the same form, being that of 

 a large inland lake or sea with the trees on the distant horizon, 

 apparently standing in water, oi' the base of their stems 

 obscured with a thick, white haze. 



The following species of birds, were noted, and in many 

 instances obtained, during the trip. 



CORVUS AUSTRALIS. 



Australian Raven. 



Gorvus coronoides, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., iv., pi. 18 (1848). 



Corvus australis, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., i., p. 475 (1865). 



Corone australis, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., iii., p. 37 (1877) ; 

 North, Nests and Eggs Austr. Bds., 2nd. ed., i., pt. i., p. 

 5 (1901). 



This species was more freely distributed in and around 

 Coolabah, than in the Brewarrina district. Complaints were 

 loud in the former locality of its chicken thieving propensities, 

 most chickens in the neighbourhood being protected in wire 

 enclosures. Although the lamb and disabled sheep attacking 

 proclivities of this bird were freely admitted in Brewarrina, it 

 was not looked upon with such general abhorrence as it usually 

 is with pastoralists in New South Wales. While going, one 

 day, to photograph the billabong bridge in the latter town, I 

 saw a Raven, feasting on something on the ground, and so in- 

 tent was it on its meal that it allowed me to approach close 

 enough to see its white iris. Presently a Black-faced Wood- 

 Swallow (Artainus riielanopx) flew at the Raven, snapping its 

 mandibles viciously as it dashed backwards and forwards, half 

 a dozen or more times. Thinking possibly the Raven had 

 caught a young Wood-Swallow, I ventured nearer, when tlie 

 former flew away, carrying its booty with it into an adjoining 

 back yard, surrounded with a three-railed fence, and I left it 

 there afterwards picking at a bone. 



