Vol. xyiii.-j •• Down Mario Way.'-'- 269 



as any of them. Many were producing flower-spikes, and fruits 

 were to be found on the ground below. Probably this jungle too 

 has its distinctive fauna, but the birds met with were the same 

 as those found elsewhere. The loud song of the Lyre-Bird was 

 heard amongst the tree-ferns ; Thickheads were melodious in the 

 trees ; Tree-creepers were running up the lofty gum-trees ; and 

 the call of the Oriole was heard overhead. The creek itself, the 

 haunt of blackfish, whose banks were green with masses of 

 maiden-hair fern, was patrolled by the Sacred Kingfisher, whilst 

 White-shafted Fantails snapped up the ail-too- numerous 

 mosquitoes. 



For some few miles inland from the coast eastward of Mario 

 the country is more or less open, stretches of heathy country 

 prevailing, interspersed with open forest, in parts of which 

 eucalypts predominate, whilst in other parts, especially towards 

 the edge of the sea-cliffs, Banksias are the prevailing trees. The 

 banksias, which extend for miles along the Victorian coast-line, 

 are one of the chief sources of food supply for many of our smaller 

 honey-loving Passerines, as well as a few Parrots. Amongst them 

 we frequently saw the Blue-bellied Lorikeets, whose brush tongues 

 are doubtless extremely useful amongst the stiff, comb-like 

 stamens of the flowering cones. The noisy Brush Wattle-Bird 

 and the Crescent and New Holland Honey-eaters were constantly 

 flushed in company with the Lorikeets. The cliffs themselves are 

 in many places fairly thickly clothed with bushes and a variety 

 of trees, and where streams come down from above miniature 

 tree-fern gullies are to be found, the ferns growing to within 

 20 yards of the salt water. These localities were specially 

 favoured by White-eared and Yellow-faced Honey-eaters, Tits, 

 Scarlet-breasted Robins, and Scrub-Wrens. 



But perhaps the birds of the open heathy tracts are the most 

 interesting of all, and several days were devoted to tramping 

 over those in the neighbourhood of Mario, whilst on the longest 

 of our outings — that to Cape Conran — we drove through miles 

 of undulating country mainly covered with vegetation of this 

 type. The plants met with, and which go to form the tangled 

 heathy mass, included dwarf banksias, dwarf sheoaks {Casiiarina 

 qiiadrivalvis), native red fuchsia {Correa speciosa), the purple 

 creeper [Glycine clandestina), yellow and brown broom [Spharo- 

 lohiuM viminalis), Black-eyed Susan [Teiratheca ciliata), a small 

 Pimelea {P. spathulata), a Danipiera {D. brownii), a lavender- 

 foliaged Sccevola (S. hookeri), a fine Pimelea-\i\ie Trachymenc {T. 

 hillardieri), a heathy Brachyloma [B. daphnoides), purple Come- 

 spernta (C. ericiniim), a pale yellow (lompJwlohiiim [G. Imegelii), 

 native furze {Hakea itlicina), red bottle-brush {Callistemon lanceo- 

 latiis), a Platylohiitm [P. ohliisangiilatu))i), heath {Epacris impressa), 

 dodder laurel [Cassytha mcUiHtha), lilies [Stypandra caspitosa and 

 Dianella longifolia), and the familiar bracken. These flowers and 

 shrubs intermingled to such an extent that for hundreds of yards 

 no bare ground was to be seen. In more swampy places dwarf 



