°'g ■] Australasian Oynithologists' Union. I3I 



Graucalus had a nest not far from the house. Scarlet-breasted 

 Robins trilled to brooding mates in sugar gums. Beside the 

 ladies' tent Honey-eaters probed their bills into some introduced 

 fuchsia plants, which had grown well nigh into trees for height. 

 Seven paces behind another tent was found a Wren's nest con- 

 taining tiny squabs. 



Each day parties were organised for research in the 

 surrounding country, and every evening specimens were shown 

 and long discussions and note-comparings took place over the 

 experiences of the day. 



A favourite walk is along the valley of the Middle River. The 

 introduced " Cape weed " flourishes among the spear-grass and 

 melilot knee-high. On its flowers dozens of Crimson (Pennant) 

 Parrakeets feed. As the birds rise to fly into a neighbour- 

 ing tree their crimson bodies and blue-splashed wings always 

 arrest attention. Some are so tame that they wait till we pass, 

 then re-alight on the ground again. A few had commenced 

 nesting in hollow trees. In some of their notes, especially the 

 call, they remind us of Rosellas. 



Entering a flat, several Spur-winged Plovers swoop down 

 with complaining cries. No doubt young are hiding in the 

 herbage, because we find bits of egg-shells on the swampy 

 tract. The gullies that intersect the hills and run down to the 

 river flat are full of flowering plants, flourishing under groves of 

 eucalypts — veritable homes for small birds. A large Black- 

 winged Crow-Shrike (Black Magpie) is brooding in its nest in 

 the swaying bough of a sugar gum. In the scrub below is a 

 nest with eggs of the white-whiskered New Holland Honey- 

 eater, also a nest with young of its cousin, the Crescent Honey- 

 eater, so named for the black horseshoe-shaped marking on the 

 breast. Both nests were photographed in situ. 



The photographers find plenty of natural history subjects 

 among the birds, for most of them had young at this time. 



The river for some distance is a clear, deep stream, 15 to 20 

 feet across. In the quiet reaches bream are exceedingly plenti- 

 ful, and easily caught by hand lines baited with ordinary earth- 

 worms. Evening angling parties invariably caught sufficient for 

 breakfast, but the fish had a somewhat earthy flavour. At its 

 mouth the river is much restricted by the shifting sand. It is 

 narrowed down to a few feet, but the quantity of water behind 

 is enough to push a rushing current through the barrier. In 

 fact, the fight between the river and the sand has been a long 

 one, and its history can be traced in the contour of the flat. 

 Originally the river entered the sea on the western side of the 

 little bay. The ladies' tents were pitched on the old river flat. 

 But the persistent ocean sand, drifting in from the north-west, 

 gradually pushed this mouth to tlie eastward, marking the 

 conquest with a long line of sand dunes. Another closed mouth 



