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Mr. Charles Barrett,



was similar to that of the adult Crane, but there was still a mass

of beautiful silvery-grey down on the rump and flanks. The legs

were sufficiently developed to enable the young bird to run briskly,

and dodge its pursuers very cleverly when it tired of posing for a

portrait. We heard that, in another locality, no fewer than 400 of

these noble birds had been destroyed by poison.*


Yanko Creek was reached at noon on the third day out from

Jerilderie, and the shade of the gums was very welcome after the

sun-glare and dust of the plains. Max Egger and I had come here

together in the jinker, leaving his two assistants to continue trapping

on the wheat lands. We camped in the old spot. While the billy

boiled we sat in the shade and watched the bird-life of the creek.

A flock of Maned Geese (Chlamyclochen jubata) paddled down stream,

within a stone’s throw of our camp. (We had also seen Wood-

Duck earlier in the day, resting under a gum tree near the Ibis

Swamp). Galahs, Yellow Parrots, and many other birds were noted.

After the meal we made a voyage in the flattie, and my harvest of

photographs was increased. On the following day we struck camp

and drove along the creek for several miles, to a beautiful spot, the

haunt of a pair of Delicate Owls (Strix delicatula). The nest,

which had been found by my companion some weeks previously,

was in a deep hollow of a dead gum-tree standing in the creek. A

natural causeway of logs and debris enabled us to reach the tree

dryshod, but it was not so easy to climb the hard, polished trunk.

But Max Egger, who was a skilled and fearless climher, won to the

nest, and descended carrying a young owl. The queer little bird

was almost enveloped in creamy white down, softer than teased silk,

but its tail and wing feathers were well developed. Perched on a

bough, it blinked sleepily, and made scarce an effort to escape.


When the owls’ nest was discovered, more than a month

previously, it contained eggs. On a second visit, Mr. Egger found

two nestlings, one of which was evidently several days older than

the other, in the hollow. Now there was only only one owlet, the

first-born, no doubt, being somewhere among the trees with its

parents. The beak and legs of the owlet we photogtaphed were



* A most calamitous destruction ! Will more species of Cranes go the way

of the beautiful Whooping Crane of N. America ? — ED.



