%o6^'] Obituary Notice. 2 29 



continuous, and I began to think I had trusted too much to my presumed 

 knowledge of the habits of my CoreUa friends. I felt dispirited ; I had left 

 camp without any breakfast (a very foolish thing for anyone to do, if he can 

 help it, for there is nqthing like a full stomach to give pluck), for the water 

 was bad, and anxiety had taken away my appetite. I was now nine miles 

 from the morning's camp, the horses were thirsty, and the creek looked so 

 unlikely that I was just upon the point of turning back when my eye caught 

 the white gleams, so well known, of the birds' wings. It was a long way off 

 — at least two miles up the creek— but there was no mistake, there were my 

 friends of the night before. With great glee I urged on, and the gleam 

 resolved itself into flocks, and the flocks into innumerable individuals. 

 What strange white trees are those ahead ? Surely they cannot be Corcllas 

 on them ; yes, indeed they are, a perfect forest of Cockatoos ! My heart 

 beat high with pleasurable excitement ; visions of an interior lake and a 

 consequent happy homestead rose before me, and 1 felt pleased that my 

 trust in my feathered friends had not deceived me. Another half-mile, and 

 my astonishment was indeed great ; they really were trees ahead, and, 

 instead of leaves, they were loaded with Corellas. What extraordinary 

 numbers 1 Excitement made me quicken my pace from the usual explorer's 

 walk to a canter, and I was rewarded by the sight of a fine hole of water and 

 the discovery of a veritable Cockatoos' haunt — the luviie of the Corella. Oh ! 

 the noise, the frightful noise, as I rode under the trees to the water's edge. 

 What a babel of tongues, what incessant screeching, what a whirling, flying, 

 moving mass of noise — 50,000 Cockatoos all screaming at once I Just for 

 one moment try and realize it, reader, and you will involuntarily put your 

 fingers to stop your ears. What incredible numbers ; the air is white with 

 them, the trees are white with them, and the ground round the edge of the 

 water is white with them I I had seen ' Cockatoo holes ' before, but never 

 such a scene as this ; it was quite evident I had hit upon a favourite haunt, 

 and one in which they were not often disturbed, even by blacks." 



The wonderful Flock Pigeon (^Histriophnps Jiistrionicii) : 



" They are gregarious in the extreme, keeping during the winter months 

 in flocks of thousands. I was camped one September day at a lari;e water- 

 hole, about 100 miles north-west from the Cloncurry. About half-past 4 

 they began to come in from the plains ; being so used to flocks of them, 

 I at first paid no particular attention, but, getting up and looking round, I 

 was astonished to find that as far as the eye could see in a north-westerly 

 direction there was one continuous stream of these birds, apparently making 

 for this water. Settling on the edge of the hole, I gave myself up to the 

 pleasure of observing them. These Pigeons are most peculiar drinkers ; 

 most birds are very deliberate over this matter, and even by their lifting up 

 their heads heavenwards seem to return thanks ; not so our vigorous Pigeon 

 friends : they are not at all reverential, but drink as though their very life 

 depended upon doing it quickly, as if the water would dry up before they 

 could taste it. A flock, after flying several times swiftly round and round 

 the lagoon, suddenly swoops down at a convenient spot, plunging their 

 beaks into the water up to the eyes ; they give two or three hasty gulps, and 

 then suddenly, as if alarmed, they rise up and fly off again, before, I am 

 sure, one-half have had time to touch the water. After flying round in wide 

 circles they again repeat the performance, till, 1 suppose, at last they do 

 manage all to get satisfied. I cannot help thinking that the peculiar manner 

 the blacks have of hunting them, and which I shall presently describe, has 

 something to do with this strange method of drinking. At this hole, on this 

 particular afternoon, they kept up these manojuvres till sunset, and the 

 hundreds of thousands that had accumulated there (many flocks had flown 

 away satisfied), was a sight that to the eyes of a naturalist was delightful. 

 It would take the pen of an Alexander Wilson to graphically describe the 

 scene ; how, in spite of their really incredible numbers, their closeness 



