191 7-] British Assuciution in Auslralia. 61 



one pair, wliich were busily engaged in laying the founda- 

 tion of their nest with dry leaves in a sapling. On them I 

 spent most of the morning. Towards midday William Cain 

 arrived, and soon alter lunch we drove off to his station of 

 Madowla Park, having paid a further visit to the Noisy- 

 Miners. Many Grass-Parrots and llosellas in small flocks 

 were disturbed from the roadside as we passed, first through 

 ■cultivated land and then through wilder scrul) country ; but 

 we had no time to ali<^ht and hunt for birds, as we had to 

 cover something under twenty miles before dinner time. 



Madowla Park lies in the fork between the Goulburn 

 and jNIurray Rivers, It comprises big paddocks for stock, 

 irrigation-land fed by channels from the Murray which 

 are filled by a pumping engine, and wide stretches of barren 

 ground vaiied by occasional belts of timber of no great 

 extent. Gardens surround the house, which looks out on 

 a creek or lagoon of consideralde length and breadth. At 

 the end of the property in one direction lies the Murray, 

 l)ordered l)y tall gum-scrub above its bare mud-banks. 

 Consequently there is no lack of suitable localities for 

 birds of many sorts, and the avifauna is rich and varied. 

 I could not have had a better field for my researches, while 

 my kind host was uncommonly interested in my pursuits 

 -and entered into them so waruily that he gave up nearly 

 the vvhole of his time to accompany me. 



Even the immediate surroundings of the buildings held 

 mucli of interest. The kitclien-gardeu was only remarkable 

 for Greenies and so forth, but the flower-garden, wliich was 

 fringed with tall gums and was full of orange trees laden 

 ■with ripe fruit, was the haunt of Diamond- Birds, Parrots, 

 and a couple of pairs of the Harmonious Thrush, apparently 

 seeking a site t\,r their nests and generally in full song. 

 A strip of this flower-garden continued in front of the 

 house by the side of the lagoon, and here the water below 

 tlie shrubs was edged with a grov\ tli of sedge^ where I 

 understand that the Rced-Warbler (^Acrucephalus australis^ 

 breeds later in the year. A pair of Black-and-white 

 Fantails [Rhi^idura mcitacilloides) were often observed 



