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Notes from the NuUarbor Plain 



By F. LAWSON WHITLOCK, R.A.O.U., Tudor, via Albany, 

 W.A. 



Introductory. 



The western side of the Nullarbor Plains is not altogether a 

 terra incoynita, in an ornithological sense. In the year 1<X)8, Mr. 

 C. G. Gibson, then assistant Government geologist of the State 

 of Western Australia, travelled through the plain right up to the 

 South Australian border. This was at the time the survey for 

 the trans-line was being put through. Mr. Gibson published his 

 observations on the birds he met with in The Emu, ix., p. 71 

 (1909) ; and Ca])tain S. A. White, of Adelaide, has in the mean- 

 time made several trips to the eastern side of the plain, in South 

 Australia. 



One object of my trip, which was organised and financed by 

 Mr. H. L. White, of Belltrees, N.S.W., was in a measure to link 

 up with and com])are results with those achieved by Captain 

 White, and to make a more minute examination of the a\i- fauna 

 than Mr. Gibson was able to do. About some eighteen or nine- 

 teen years ago I spent over a year prospecting for gold in the 

 country lying twenty or thirty miles to the south-east of Kal- 

 goorlie, and through which the "trans." line now passes. About 

 that time I got into correspondence w^th the late Mr. A. W. 

 Milligan, and exchanged many letters with him referring to the 

 local bird life. He did much to aid me in accurately identifying 

 the species met with. In the following notes, I am calling the 

 above locality my Roorara camp. 



In his j)aper Mr. Gibson does not state what his means of 

 trans])ortation were, but I presume he had the services of Go- 

 vernment camels. In such a waterless country it is impossible 

 to go far from one's base without their aid. My researches, 

 therefore, were confined to a radius around certain stations along 

 the trans-line, where, owing to the kindness of the Commissioner 

 for Commonwealth Railways, I was allowed to camp, and obtain 

 water and supplies from the bi-weekly train. 



It was decided I should commence work at Zantlius, loO miles 

 east of Kalgoorlie. Zanthus lies in the belt of country referred 

 to in Mr. Gibson's description as "giant mallee and spinifex." 

 Around Zanthus, however, are tracts in which salmon gums, 

 morrel gums, and gimlet wood are to be found in jirofusion ; 

 some of the first-named growing to a considerable height. Not 

 far from the siding, I found a large outcrop of granite, and in 

 its vicinity trees and bushes of the mulga and hakea type pre- 

 dominated ; the well-known pituri poison-bush, too, was very 

 plentiful. Amongst the birds, I found nothing of special mterest, 

 the species noted being almost identical with those found years 

 ago around my Boorara camp. One rather curious and notable 



