IOC. UOKGA\—A Trip to yorth-West Australia. 



of the walking fish; a fine Sumatran Heron flapped lazily over 

 the jetty, and in the shallow creeks behind the hushes a few 

 large White Egrets were fishing. Many large crabs were 

 caught, as well as a number of large milk-whire prawns, botli 

 excellent foi- the pot. 



On June loth Mr. G. .Millard, the manager of Meda Station, 

 30 miles east of Derby, kindly sent in a buckl)oard to take us 

 out to the station. The first part of the road is over the dry 

 marshes, where there is nothing of interest except an occa- 

 sional pipit. The road then runs through the "pindau," in 

 which bii-ds swarm. Black Cockatoos {Calijptorhijnchus 

 iKiiiksii ). (Jalahs, ("rimsou-winged Parrots, Black-throated 

 Butcher Birds, Sordid Friar Birds, Little Wood-swallows 

 (Aiia)iius minor). Black-headed Diamond Birds {Pardalotus 

 Hiclanocephdhis), and Cockatoo Parrots were seen in numbers. 

 At a watering place about half-way to the station rhere were 

 numbers of Long-tailed Finches (Pocphila actiticuttda ) and 

 Chestnut-eared Finches {Tdciiiopi/i/iii caatoHotus). In th" 

 pindau we also saw, for the first time, the huge white aut 

 heaps, of a reddish or gre.y-brown colour, and reaching a height 

 of as much as 12 feet. Near the station the road goes through 

 the open grass country — great, beautifully-grassed plains, the 

 grass being nearly dry at the time of our visit, as it was the 

 middle of the dry season, f(n- although the rainfall of the 

 district is from 25 to 30 inches, it all falls in the summer 

 months. On these grass plains are numbers of Native Com- 

 panions { Antigone rnhicundo) \ we never went for a drive 

 without seeing several pairs. They are fortunately not inter- 

 fered M'ith, and are in consequence very tame; not so the Wild 

 Turkeys { h'upoflotis ((Hsfrnli.s) which, though }>lentiful enough, 

 always rose well out of range of , the buggy. Meda Station is 

 a fine, comfortable homestead, built on a sandstone ridge to 

 be out of the reach of .floods; within a few hundred yards is 

 a fine, dee}) billabong, on which were feeding Wliite-ne;ked 

 Herons, White Egrets, and White and Straw-necked Ibis. The 

 gum-trees surrounding the billabong were the home of a big 

 flock of Bare-eyed C(»ckatoos. In the bushes near the water I 

 found a playground of the (Jreat Bower Bird. We found three 

 of these playgrounds; two of them were (•omi)letely .irched 

 over, and the third, jirobably a new one, was slightly ojjen at the 

 top. One which was measured Avas 43 cm. in height, 4:7 cm. in 

 length, and 44 cm. broad; almost a cube. The total length of 

 the bower with the platform was 130 cm. This platfo-rm is 

 built entirely of dull white objects, such as stones, bones, shells, 

 etc., at each end; on one side were pieces of dull green glass. 



