IQ2 White, Ornithological Trips to Nullabor Plains. [jsf "jan. 



break we found a riding camel and one on which to pack our 

 luggage tied up close to the camp. I mounted the riding camel, 

 and, with Mr. Lea behind me, I was soon punching one of my 

 old northern acquaintances along the sandy track which led to 

 the head of the road. We were lucky enough to fall in with a 

 Ministerial train, by which we had a good run into Port Augusta. 



Second Trip. 



Towards the end of May I was again in Port Augusta on my 

 way along the East-West railway, this time to investigate the 

 Sparrow question for the Commonwealth Advisory Council for 

 Science and Industry. There being no Sparrows in Western 

 Australia, the people in those parts are naturally fearful that 

 these imported pests may find their way over from South Australia 

 by means of the East-West railway track. This time I went up 

 by the pay train, and I was able to make inquiries all along the 

 line. It was found that the Sparrows had not reached Tarcoola 

 up to that time (they have now reached there). When the head 

 of the road was reached. Superintendent Tom Ash informed me 

 it was reported that Sparrows had been seen between the rail head 

 and Ooldea, so the next day or so were occupied in gathering 

 information along the works of construction. Little valuable 

 information could be obtained. There were very few birds, and 

 the only additions to the list already made were the Bee-eater, 

 White-backed Swallow, and Small-billed Crow. A good many 

 botanical specimens were collected upon this trip ; this was owing 

 to the long and numerous stoppings along the line to pay the men. 

 One of the most attractive plants growing amongst the sand-hills 

 is the so-called tea-tree {Leptospermum Icevigatum, var. minus), 

 and it was covered in white blossoms at the time of my visit. In 

 many places Sturt's desert rose {Hibiscus pinoneaniis) was in 

 full flower, and large bushes covered in handsome bluish blossoms 

 were often met with. The shapely boronia bushes (B. corrabeus) 

 was fairly plentiful, and the kangaroo bush {Phceiedia seopana) 

 was often seen, and the honey-loving birds seemed to obtain much 

 food from the bright puce flowers of this bush. The yellow and 

 rigid-flo\\ering Helichrysum bractcatum and the showy yellow 

 heads of H. apiculatwm were a feature of the landscape. In 

 many places the sand-hills were white with the pretty little ever- 

 lasting Heliptenim floribundum. The birds were attracted by 

 the flowering mallee {Eucalyptus inocanita), which grew from 20 

 to 25 feet high and in January was covered in white blossoms. 

 There were many more species of plants, two of which proved 

 new to science and one or two fresh records for South Australia, 

 three of these plants having been hitherto recorded only for 

 Western Australia. It is to be hoped that the bushes and low 

 vegetation are not destroyed, or even touched, in the sand-hill 

 country, for should it be destroyed this country will become a 

 howling wilderness of drifting sand. 



