WHITE— The Birds of Kuitpo Forest. 1 1 



lioartl. The Forest, of Kuitpo is about 30 miles south of 

 Adehiide, situated in ihe nin^'es, the nearest railway station 

 is 12 miles away, at Wilhmga. Some of the hi«;hest peaks 

 and rido-es reach X<200 to 1,:>()0 feet above the sea, and the 

 average rainfall must be about 30 inches. The Forest com- 

 prises some 8,000 acres, and is as yet mostly covered in native 

 trees. The red gum {Eucalyptus rostrata) covers much of the 

 creek fiats which are heavily soaked with water for five or six 

 months of the year. Most of the big trees have been felled, 

 and a regeneration of healthy saplings is covering the 

 ground, and in many places forming a fine timber belt along 

 the valleys. Many of the slopes and ridges are covered in 

 stringy bark {E. ohJiquu) but in most cases the ravages of fires 

 have left their marks only too noticeable upon the trees. In 

 places there is some thick scrub consisting of a stunted form 

 of Eiicali/ptK.s rosiuophjjlid, stunted Blue Gum E. h'ueo.ri/loii), 

 .•uitl rink (}um {E. faficiculofui), scrub She-Oak {Cni^uarina 

 (listila), and white-flowering Lcpfospermum. This scrub is 

 growing on the poorer parts of the Forest lands. Large areas 

 ihave been planted with Finns iiisignns and Pin us marifima, 

 the.'^e are in plots of different ages and are doing well. Large 

 areas of the native timber are being cleared off, all market- 

 able timber going through the mill and then a fire is passed 

 over the area to make ready for the planting of soft woods. 

 The first rhing that strikes an Ornithologist is the absence of 

 !)ir(l life in the pine forests, it is only when some native tree^ 

 have grown up among the introduced timber that any of our 

 small birds will be found in ordinary weather,*but when strong 

 wijids are blowing many birds take shelter in the warm dry 

 pine forest. The Black Cockatoo (Califpforhi/nchus funcrcns 

 irhitc(if) A'sits the jiines in numbers to feed upon the seeds. 

 It miist be raid that bird life is really scarce over the forest 

 area, and this is due no doubt to the felling of the natural 

 limber and the 'burning olf after felling. Tiie nesting i)laces 

 f»f many species are destroyed as well as the old feeling trees, 

 and as tin- pine arciis are extended so the Tuajority of the 

 birds must <hHl a liome elsewhere. Tliere are parts of Ihe 

 area \vhi(h are bcng j)lanted with hard woods princi]»ally 

 various nuMubers of the Euculfiptns family. These will form 

 fceoing i rounds for an\ species of birds, also a sau'tnary. but 

 iliese trc'-'S will not lie allowed to stand long enougli to form 

 iic^'tinu liolldws for n,:i'iy useful birds. 



The following is a list of the birds observed during the 

 s\rit('i-'s slioiM \v\\\< to I\ui)i»o Forest, but it should lie nndrr- 



