MORGAN — The Birds of Ike South- Kaxt em Part of 8. A. 7 



The Birds of the South^Eastern Part of 

 South Austrah'a. 



By A. M. Morgan, M.B., B.Cli. 



My wife and I spent the month of October in a tour of 

 the South East with the view of making a list of the birds of 

 that part of tlie country, none having been yet published. 

 Leaving Adelaide by the Melbourne express on October 1 we 

 reached Mount Gambler early on the morning of the 2nd, 

 tra.elling by the night train from Wolsley. Mount Gam- 

 bier is a desolation as far as the ornithologist is concerned, 

 the district for miles around being under cultivation, and 

 absolutely denuded of native trees, the plantations of pines 

 which have taken their place are occupied by hordes of spar- 

 rows, starlings, goldfinches, and greenfinches. A few 

 nativ:i birds were seen around the lakes, but nothing of suffi- 

 cient iiJKM'est to warrant a stay there. So next day we hired 

 a trap to drive us to the Glenelg River, where we spent five 

 days. Returning to Mount Gambler on the 8th we left for 

 Beachport next morning, and stayed there until the 17th, 

 metering from there to Robe, where ten days work was put 

 in. On the 27th we motored to Kingston, and spent the 

 next day in some nice gum scrub about five miles from the 

 town. The neighbourhood of the town itself is very bare 

 and bird loss. On the 30th we went on to Narracoorte by 

 train where we saw the beautiful caves and had two after- 

 noons in some stringy bark forests near the town. The 

 country about Narracoorte looked promising, and we were 

 sorry we had not arranged to spend more time there. On 

 the morning of November 1st we left for home. This list is, 

 of course, not complete; of quite a number of the birds 

 identified single individuals or pairs only were seen, so it is 

 to be sui)posed that some were missed altogether. Notable 

 absentees were the Emu, still said to be common in parts, 

 and even in one place we visited near Beachport, but we did 

 not see them. The Bustard, now about extinct in the dis- 

 trict ; the Native Companion, formerly very common, now 

 getting rare; and the Bronzewing Pigeon, which I was told 

 was still common, but although we saw numbers of Brush 

 BronzcAvings we saw none of the common kind. Other 

 om.ission are noted in the detailed list. The coyntry 

 examined was mostly coastal, with the exception of two days 

 at Nairacoorte only two or three trips were made into the 

 inland country. The sandhills at Beachport and Robe are 



