58 Australian Birds. 



Chapter VI., On the Seashore, contains the following 

 notes on birds met with : 



" Numbers of mutton-birds flew towards their nesting holes on the 

 " mainland, and honey-birds were everywhere, and various parrots were 

 ' feeding upon some flowering trees. Hour after hour passed, until 1 

 " noticed suddenly that the sun was setting, so with great reluctance I 

 " turned back to the landing-place, noticing that, except those of the 

 " wild birds, no footsteps were to be seen but my own. Some of these 

 " lagoons are full of pelicans, snipe, and cranes, and black swans are 

 " found in numbers near the coast, while curlews wail at nightfall from 

 ' the flats near the shore, and great numbers of wild flowers are here also." 



I found in Chapter YII., Some Pests, that some birds are 

 ^o classed, as indicated in the following extract : 



" It seems a shame to class cockatoos amongst the ' pests,' but 

 " unfortunately, from a farmer's point of view, this must be done. The 

 " beautiful Lemon-crested Cockatoo exists in such huge flocks that when a 

 '' number of these birds settle upon a ' cultivation ' they work great 

 " havoc there. But from that of a stranger — especially one who loves 

 ' birds — it is a beautiful sight to see the cockatoos flying from spike to 

 " spike, balancing their glittering white bodies and raising and lowering 

 ' their crests in the hot sunshine." 



" The Black Cockatoo also loves grain, though he is not so 

 " numerous; and it is interesting to watch a flock of them fly over, for 

 " they fly heavily and look like huge black squares against the sky; while 

 the Blood-stained Cockatoo — another variety^ — is a curious and interesting 

 " bird. The tree which bears their name, the cockatoo tree, with its 

 '■ spikes of red and white flowers, exactly reproduces the shapes of .their 

 'beautiful heads, just as the Strelitzia does that of the crested crane 

 " in Africa." 



Chapter X., Life on a Station, is full of reference to bird 

 life, and my extracts must be rather full : 



" The very first long day I spent in the bush which surrounded the 

 " station where I was staying I counted no less than twenty-three new 

 " species of birds — that is, twenty-three I had never seen before in their 

 " wild state — and I spent an intensely interesting day watching them. 

 Amongst those I always loved watching were the Laughing Jackasses, 

 '■ or Kookaburras, also called the bushman's clock, and very few bushmen 

 will kill or injure a kookaburra if they can help it. I found that there 

 is a variety of this interesting bird in North Queensland bluer in tint 

 than anywhere else, and 1 never tired of seeing them and watching their 

 '' ways, though they often laughed at me at awkward moments. It 



was curious to see them fly down like a flash, dig their stout bills into 

 the ground for some grub, with their tails thrown up jauntily at the 

 same instant, and then fly away to repeat the movement again and 

 again. I was told of one wh'ch had been accidentally killed which 

 contained two pounds of meat, which it had stolen, and which had 



