^°''.j2u^" ] iMA'-:<.'ii.i.ivKAV, Dyoiif^lit Xolcs Jioiii U'cs/eru N.S.W. 93 



Drought Notes from Western New South Wales. 



Bv Dk. W. Macgii.livray,- ex-President R.A.O.U., Broken 



Hill, N.S.W. 

 \\'iii:\ 1 irlniuccl to Broken Hill at the end of last winter (i<)i()) 

 1 found that no r;un had fallen in sufficient amount to replenish 

 dams and lakes since early in 1917, consequently most dams were 

 dry, and the few large lakes were rapidly diminishing. By the 

 end of the summer all surface water except that conserved in 

 the Broken Hill reservoirs had disappeared. Fortunately for 

 these latter, a strike had been in existence then for nearly a year, 

 and no water had been required for the mines. This condition of 

 things has had its effect on the local birddife. Many species 

 went elsewhere, and others put in an appearance that were 

 previously strangers — no doubt forced to leave their usual 

 haunts in a search for some more favoured locahty. One species, 

 the Red- winged Parrot {Aprosmictus erythropterus), came south- 

 west from its usual habitat, appearing on the upper part of the 

 River Darling, at Kallara station, in fair numbers. A few strayed 

 down the Barrier Range to within a few miles of Broken Hill, 

 and others were noted for the first time in South Australia by Mr.^ 

 J.N. M'Gilp, in the neighbourhood of Lake Frome. The Common 

 Silver-eye {Zosterops dorsalis) also appeared for the first time in 

 Broken Hill ; was also noted by Mr. M'Gilp, and became quite 

 common, on the upper part of the Darling River. 



The Bare-eyed or Blood-stained Cockatoo {Cacatua sanguineus), 

 usually a common bird on all the creeks about here, disappeared 

 from the district early in the drought ; it went north to more 

 fertile country in Western Queensland. The Galah {Cacatua 

 roseicapilla), however, remained, congregating in immense flocks 

 in the vicinity of water, whether the town supply or troughs 

 supplied from wells. It fed on the shed seeds of grasses and 

 salsolaceous plants. 



The scarcity of rabbits resulted in most of the raptorial birds, 

 such as the Whisthng-Eagle {Haliastur sphcnurus), Fittle Eagle 

 (Hieradus morphnoides), and Kite {Milvus affinis), which usually 

 live on this pest, leaving the district. A notable exception was 

 the Wedge-tailed Eagle (Uroatius audax), which became, if any- 

 thing, more numerous than in normal times, and, emboldened by 

 hunger, harried and killed kangaroos and Emus weakened by 

 want, and took toll from the immense flocks of Water-Hens 

 [Microtribonyx australis) that congregated in the neighbourhood 

 of the rapidly-drying waters of early summer. 



Mr. J. Osman, who hves with his wife and six children at Stiffs 

 Well, on the South Austrahan border of Yanco station, in South- 

 western Queensland, gave me an interesting note. His house is 

 surrounded by mulga {Acacia anenra) scrub, and he has always 

 afforded protection and encouraged the wild birds to come aliout 

 the place. He rarely uses a gun, and never fires a shot within a 

 mile of the house, and his children have been taught not to molest 



