^°i' o6^ 1 Ross, Some Bird-Life on the Murray Frontage. ^1 



— which our photographers of birds must possess and exercise to 

 obtain the results they do. 



When we had finished with the Ibis we turned our attention 

 to the Tippet Grebe {^Podicipes cristatiis), but though we saw a 

 few birds we were unable to discover their nests. Later a nest 

 of the Black-throated Grebe {P. novce-Jiollandice') was found and 

 photographed. 



We disturbed a Bald-Coot from her nest in a fork of a tree 

 just above water mark, and in her hurry to get away she kicked 

 two of her eggs on top of the other six with such force that one 

 was badly broken. This revealed a chick almost ready to chip 

 its way out. We also found on a piece of bark projecting from 

 a tree trunk, and only about 3 feet from the water line, the nest 

 of a pair of Wood-Swallows {Arfainus sordidus), containing 

 three young. This nest was a long way from any dry land. 



During the afternoon three Swans were seen flying across the 

 swamp, and the fact that they were heading towards the setting 

 sun prompted one of our party to quote Banjo Patterson — 



" Oh, ye wild Black Swans, what a world of wonder, 

 To join for a while in your westward flight ! " 



The only other Swan we saw was on the River Murray. It was 

 remarkable that during a fortnight spent among all those 

 swamps we should see only four specimens of this graceful bird. 



On the return homewards another member of this Club and I 

 met with an incident that was mildly exciting. We were 

 paddling hard against the rapid stream in the Gulpa, he in the 

 bow and I in the stern of our frail craft, and hugging close to 

 the bank to avoid the worst of the current, when he suddenly 

 raised his paddle and made a desperate stroke as far as he could 

 reach ahead. He missed — only by an inch or two — a tiger 

 snake which was swimming across the river, but his effort caused 

 our boat to roll so that it became half-filled with water. The 

 snake gained the bank, and with another stroke of the paddle 

 my companion just tipped it on the tail, so that it turned and 

 re-entered the river straight for the boat. By the roll of the 

 boat at the second blow aimed at the reptile we shipped more 

 water — far more than we could conveniently carry — and my 

 watchfulness for the boat had to be transferred to the snake. 

 However, it dived at once, and although we pushed out into 

 mid-stream we saw it no more. When we had time to examine 

 our position it was found that I was practically sitting in the 

 river, and that the boat was slowly filling with water. A few 

 strokes of the paddles brought us to the bank just in time to 

 prevent us going under. We took all our gear out of the boat, 

 turned it upside down and emptied it before resuming our 

 voyage. 



A few days later a guide took us through an intricate maze 



