VoijXXii.j ^VHITE, Most Hxtcusivc Ornitliolonica! Tour 219 



out from the railiieads in Oueensland, where all went to tlie east, 

 and then all the way down throu^di the liack country of (Queens- 

 land and New South Wales the railheads had to he touched for 

 stores and fuel for our cars and ourselves. 



On the 9th of May, 1922, the three cars moved off from the 

 Adelaide General Post Office at the stroke of ten a.m., and 

 amidst the cheers of a great crowd we headed to the North — a 

 course we followed for two thousand miles and more. 



Stopping for a few minutes on the outskirts of the town to 

 say good-bye to our friends, rubber coats and goggles were ad- 

 justed, and the cars settled down to their 25 to 30 miles per hour. 

 The agricultural areas were nearly left behind by the time we 

 pulled up in the driving rain after dark at Gladstone that night. 

 All through the night rain continued to fall, and in the morning 

 the country was drenched. We moved off at an early hour, and 

 found the roads in a bad condition, but by the time we reached 

 Quorn we were out of the wet area, and the mud guards were 

 removed from the cars. We reached Oodnadatta after dark of 

 Friday, 12th, and left again next morning at 9.15. From now 

 on the trials of the big trip began. W'e passed out over a vast 

 gibber plain, with its mass of broken stone, with here and there 

 weird table-topped hills plainly showing the great erosion which 

 has taken place over a great length of time. By 9.50 a.m. we 

 had reached a creek known as "The Swallows," named from the 

 locality being so frequented by the Fairy Martin, which build 

 their retort-shaped mud nests under the rocky ledges of the bank. 

 At 35 miles we reached the dreaded Alberga Creek — 

 a broad shallow watercour.se filled with very loose sand. We 

 lunched, and then made the crossing, the first time a car has done 

 this en its own power. The Stevenson River, another dry sandy 

 watercourse, was crossed at 36 miles, and numbers of the Yellow- 

 banded Parrot (Barnard ins zonarins) were seen along the river 

 in the Red Gums {Eucalyptus rostrata) which lined the banks. 

 We had been ploughing through loose sand for miles, and by 

 4 p.m. at 46 miles we pas.sed the ten-mile bore. Willow Well was 

 passed by 4.30, at 52 miles, and I saw marks of my old camp 

 of the previous year. We camped a mile east of Hamilton 

 Bore. Reached Hamilton Bore next morning at an early hour. 

 Boobook Owls {Ninox boobook) were calling loudly during the 

 night, along the timber which lines the banks of the Stevenson, 

 and out on the tablelands the Curlew, or Stone- Plover (Biirliinus 

 }iiac/uirostris) was calling. I'icking up stores and ])etrol at the 

 bore we were off again, keeping along the eastern bank of the 

 Stevenson, so strongly marked by the timber (Red (kmis) grow- 

 ing along either bank. We reached P>lood's Creek at 11.45, when 

 we had our lunch. All along the dry course of the Stevenson the 

 Yellow-banded Parrot was met with, as well as the Yellow 

 Weebill (Tree-tit) (Smicrornis flavescens), an occasional Pipit 

 {Anflius australis), small flocks of Chestnut-eared Finches 



