n 



Campbell, A Psalm of Dawn. 20I 



bird occasionally called from the nest, and one morning while 

 we were watching the nest the mate appeared and changed 

 shifts. 



It was 3.40 this morning when the Fantail called (5 minutes 

 earlier than before), and the order of the other birds was some- 

 what different. The Cuckoos, both Brush and Fan-tailed, seemed 

 to have left the hillside (and the Pallid and Bronze took their 

 place later in the day). The Jackasses began just at 4, and 

 woke up most of their forest mates, for the Magpie, Wren, 

 Yellow Robin, Bronze-wing Pigeon, White-throated Thickhead, 

 and White-eared Honey -eater quickly followed. As before, the 

 high society of the Whip-Birds and White-eyes down in the 

 creek were (at 4.20) the last to make themselves heard. But 

 they added greatly to the effect of the morning chorus ; the 

 White-eyes especially, with their continuous song, filled the 

 whole air with music. 



A difference was observed in the notes of the Yellow Robin. 

 One call is " Whit whit," whistled sharply. The other is a 

 single piping note repeated measuredly. Now, as the former 

 call was heard in the morning some time before the latter, it 

 suggests that one belongs to the male bird and the other to the 

 female, but this needs corroboration. The same notes of the 

 Yellow Robin are again heard late in the afternoon, signalling 

 the night, though usually between morning and afternoon they 

 are silent. 



Above all other things in the bush, how beautiful is the birds' 

 psalm of dawn ! Many have written of it in far-away moods, 

 but there has yet to arise a naturalist who will set it to words 

 with a true artist's touch. Meanwhile every morning of the 

 year the psalm goes up in light-hearted thankfulness for another 

 day. Each bird, without stirring from the perch where it has 

 passed the night, sits and pours forth its melody for a space, 

 like a grace before meat. Then, when dawn has chiselled out 

 the features of the landscape, and there is light enough, each 

 sets to upon its daily round. 



Domestic Wild-Cats v. Native Birds. 



By A. J. Campbell, Col. Mem. B.C.I'. 



(Rcaa (it Adelaide (/goj) Sc'sslo/i of the A.O.V.) 



BR I SI? A NE, Thursday.— In a report to the (ireyory North Rabbit Board, 

 the superintendent of works, Mr. F. C. Trotnian, stated, in reference to an 

 inspection of portion of the fence, that he was much gratified to find so few 

 traces of niM//.j. This he attributed to the myriads of wild cats (domes- 

 ticated breed), which abound all along^ the line. These were the greatest 

 enemies the rabbits had. It was astonishing where the cats came from. 

 He believed they were very numerous on the southern boundary fence, and 



