VICTORIA 143 



insects are its food. They follow the edge of the 

 drying waters. 



The best place to look for snipe in southern 

 Australia is not in the fen ground but in the dry 

 sandy rises among fern and heath. Later in the 

 season they lie in the shade of large trees and fre- 

 quent the tea tree of the morass. As the waters 

 dry they pack in the remaining rushes of the 

 creeks giving preference to certain spots. 



ARCTIC AND SUB-ANTARCTIC ROOKERIES 



AND WINTER GROUNDS 



(Plate 1, Fig. 6) 



Away in frozen northern Asia immense flocks of 

 Australian birds are associating. The time is May. 

 They are waiting within a thousand miles of the 

 rookeries for the melting of the snow. These are 

 the birds we saw on Tasmanian coasts a month ago. 

 restless, calling, and congregating for the great 

 flight that will land them in the richest feeding 

 ground of the Polar basin. There they will breed, 

 but not rear their young. It is reserved for the 

 winter ground of September — March in the south- 

 ern States of the Commonwealth. 



The rookeries, though extensive, are scarcely 

 visible as great affairs. Apologies for nests are 

 far flung upon the frozen ground but not seen, even 

 though the birds are flying everywhere; wheeling, 

 opening and closing with the precision of a trained 

 troupe. Associated in these endless flocks are Cur- 



