WESTERN AUSTRALIA 211 



very dry at that. There is in the mulga country a 

 Tit-Warbler that passes through a drought when 

 every other bird has gone: migrated or starved. 

 The bright prospect in the break of a drought is 

 the multitude of regular nomads that quickly come 

 in to feed and breed, until again forced out. 



A good season makes the country capable of 

 carrying innumerable seed-eaters, insect and native 

 fruit-eaters. Geographical distribution is now 

 broad and variable. Flocks of pigeons and quail 

 travel over ground never before flown across by 

 that generation. They wander up creek beds that 

 have been dust bins for years, and now have diffi- 

 culty in keeping their feet dry. Large families are 

 produced, and the great interior is ag<ain a flower 

 picture; a garden with the hum of insects and a 

 wealth of dry-country bird life. 



DISTRIBUTION OVER AUSTRALIA 

 (PL 3, figs. 93, 98; PI. 2, fig. 35; PI. 1, fig. 32; PI. 3, fig. 84) 



True migratory birds fly over and beyond the 

 continent of Australia from north to south in Sep- 

 tember, and from south to north in April. They 

 have a wing pattern that serves them well in their 

 long flight to Siberia. 



The Bronze Cuckoo, map 93, also flies through 

 Australia, but keeps to it. It has a wing less 

 specialised for so long a journey as the sand-pipers 

 make. 



The quail are nomads, travelling in directions 



14 



