20 MlLLIGAN, Notes on Lake Yanchep. [w'uV 



Notes on Lake Yanchep. 



By A. W. Milligax, Perth. 



Lake Yanchep is situate some $S niiles north of Perth, and 

 forms a link of that characteristic chain of lakes, estuaries, and 

 swamps which run parallel with the western coast and which 

 extend, approximately speaking, from Cape Naturaliste to the 

 Moore River. 



Our trip, which was made during the last Christmas holidays, 

 was formed with the primary object of sport, the lake and its 

 neighbourhood, according to local accounts, abounding with 

 waterfowl, Quail, Wild Turkey, and kangaroo. To me the 

 question of sport was only co-equal with, if not really subsidiary 

 to, that of ornithology, and as a consequence my specimen gun 

 and a tank of formalin were to be found with the camp baggage 

 and impedimenta of the party. 



We found the country surrounding the lake to be of a bold 

 limestone formation, honeycombed with caves and subterranean 

 channels, through which latter streams of fresh water found 

 their way into the lake, and, in turn, out into the ocean some 

 three miles distant. 



The lake itself may be compared to a deep sunken trough. It 

 runs almost due north and south, and is fully three miles in length, 

 by a varying breadth of half a mile, and with its sides fairly 

 precipitous. The southern end of the lake presents a fair 

 expanse of clear water, but thence northwards (except in the 

 case of one or two well-defined pools) becomes gradually shallower 

 until the top end runs out in oozy black mud. In the shallower 

 waters the " yangies " (bulrushes), flags, pointed reeds, rushes, 

 and badallions rankly grow, providing refuge and food for Reed- 

 Warblers, Crakes, Coots, Bittern, and Grass-Birds. On the ocean 

 side the limestone rock is conspicuous for some distance, and then 

 is succeeded by a parallel strip of undulating sand-hills clothed 

 with a rough bright green herbage, and finally by a littoral 

 strip of bare hungry sand reaching to the ocean, and broken 

 only by the limestone cliffs on the beach brows. The southern 

 end of the lake is fringed with the feathery-leaved paper-barks 

 (tea-tree) and river banksias, which in the heat of day cast a 

 grateful shade over the miniature bays and nooks for the wild 

 fowl. On the precipitous sides of the lake and on the highlands 

 the gigantic ashy-white " tuart " gums flourish, notwithstanding 

 their inhospitable rocky homes. Upon these trees innumerable 

 yellowish-red bunches of mistletoe hang like chandeliers. On 

 the sheltered hillsides and in the rock chasms thickets of the 

 beautiful white and heliotrope hibiscus occur, and sometimes 

 shelters of acacia. Away from the lake and towards the beach 

 a species of prickly mimosa and short undergrowth, with occa- 

 sional thickets of banksia, predominate. These are mentioned 

 because each section of country was inhabited by its own group 

 of feathered denizens. 



