Vol. VI. 

 1907 



1 Stray Feathers 1 33 



Bacchus Marsh three or four years previously. From my late 

 brother's statement, Mr. Kissock was out with the gun, and 

 shortly returned with two birds that he had shot, and it is 

 evident that they were quite new to him. When he brought 

 the birds in he remarked that they were very like " Whaups," 

 which, by the way, is the Scottish name for Curlews, which we 

 read frequent the seashores of the British Isles. At the period 

 referred to, Mr. Kissock would have gained a thorough 

 knowledge of the birds of his district, seeing that he would have 

 known it for fully 25 years. Mr. Pinkerton, his father-in-law, 

 according to the late Mr. William Westgarth, held his station 

 on the Werribee as far back as 1843, but he would have settled 

 there prior to that year.* Had the Ibis visited Melton Plains 

 prior to the pair being shot, Mr. Kissock would have known 

 what the birds were. When they began to come about my 

 brother was able to identify them by those he had seen at 

 Bacchus Marsh. Though it was in comparatively recent times 

 that they appeared in the Sunbury region, still there is a 

 possibility that their migratory lines were more to the west and 

 north-east. Of course, this is mere conjecture, nevertheless the 

 fact is clear that the Ibis has taken to wander beyond its former 

 haunts. My people up to 1866 had 20 years' experience of the 

 locality, during which time an Ibis was never seen nor heard of 

 John William and Edward Page had taken up Glencoe station 

 in 1836, and as the first-named was a keen sportsman, had the 

 bird been about he would have mentioned it. The brothers 

 spoke of the shooting of a solitary White Spoonbill, but it was 

 not till about 1859 that we saw this bird, which in later times is 

 seen at the Melton swamps or haunting dams in Newham Shire. 

 To return to the Ibis : it may be counted a frequent visitor to the 

 Sunbury region, especially when the season is droughty up 

 north. In my opinion hard times are not solely responsible for 

 its migrations towards Melbourne. In former days the 

 aborigines would rob this bird's nests to such an extent that it 

 was prevented from overlapping its food supply. Now that the 

 blacks are extinct the birds have a chance to increase, hence it 

 stands to reason that the line of extension must be in proportion 

 to the higher rate of increase. Settlement in rather too many 

 instances has caused, and is still causing, the extinction of certain 

 birds, whereas in others it has tended unquestionably towards 

 their increase. Here, for example, in this part of Drouin, all 

 the adjacent areas were once a dense forest, with a tangled 

 undergrowth of ferns and scrub. The axe, with the plough, got 

 to work, the country was laid open, then the White-backed 

 Magpie, the Rosella Parrakeet, the White-fronted Chat, and the 

 common Ground-Lark appeared. There was no occasion to tell 



* Mr. James Pinkerton first settled on Kororoit Creek, December, 1840. —Eds. 



