Vol. VI. 

 1900 



1 Ross, Some Bird-Life on the Murray Frontage. AC\ 



The next visit of importance was to the Redbank Swamp, 

 which we reached vid the Culpa River in flat-bottomed boats, 

 propelled by short paddles. The strength of the current, which 

 gave us an easy passage down, was not realised until the return 

 journey was started. Immediately we entered the swamp we 

 were impressed with the abundance of bird life. Bald-Coots 

 {Poj'-phyrw melanonotus) went splashing along the channel cut 

 through the vegetation ; Nankeen Herons {Nycticorax cale- 

 donicus) and White-fronted Herons (Ardea novce-JwllandicB) 

 were lazily flapping across ; Little Cormorants {PJialacrocorax 

 inelanolenais) and Black Cormorants {P. stictoceplialiis) were 

 perched here and there on stumps and posts ; a pair of Swamp- 

 Hawks {Circus goutdi) were posted like two sentries in trees on 

 opposite sides of the channel ; Reed-VVarblers {Acrocephalus 

 mistralis) were twittering in every clump of rushes passed ; two 

 dainty Marsh Terns {Hydroclielidon Jiybridd) were skimming 

 along just above the reeds ; White Ibis (^Ibis moluccd) were 

 busy hurrying backwards and forwards between the feeding 

 grounds and their nests, provisioning a rising generation ; and 

 high in the air the Straw-necked Ibis {CarpJiibis spinicollis) were 

 circling, so high that they looked like mere specks against the 

 blue vault. From both sides of us came a babel of sounds from 

 innumerable birds hidden by the dense growth of rushes. 

 With a great number of these swamp birds the notes are some- 

 what similar — hoarse, guttural notes that are in no way musical. 

 This was noticed in all the Herons, Cormorants, and Ibis, and 

 even the quacking of Ducks seemed very few removes from 

 the general croaking sound. But at intervals we were delighted 

 to hear the low, penetrating, resonant booming of the Bitterns 

 {Botaurus poicilopterus)^ and judging by the different quarters 

 from which the uncanny sounds came, we concluded the birds 

 were fairly numerous, but we did not see one during the whole 

 trip. 



When we reached an open space in the swamp we disturbed a 

 number of White-eyed Ducks {Nyroca australts), which are 

 usually called " Hardheads " by the sportsman, and which he 

 regards rather unfavourably, because they are so hard to get at, 

 so hard to kill when they are within reach of the gun, and so 

 frequently give the alarm to other game. As these birds rose 

 they scared others further on, and these in turn passed the 

 warning still further along, and so the process went on until the 

 flapping of Ducks sounded like the distant rattle of rifle fire 

 during the pushing home of an attack in a sham fight. Thus in 

 a remarkably short space of time hundreds — aye, thousands — of 

 Ducks — White-eyed, Wood, Black, Pink-eared, and Teal — were 

 cleaving the air with the celerity for which such birds are 

 noted. 



But we had not yet reached the principal object of our visit. 



