THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 6£ 



I was obliged to make use of the only conveyance that awaited 

 the arrival of the contractor's ballast train, which was from Con- 

 don's Hotel. The station is situated about a mile from the 

 township. I reached the hotel about 7 p.m., having had nothing 

 to eat since leaving home at 8 a.m., and for the last $ l A hours 

 I had been shunted hither and thither till I began to feel alarmed 

 for the safety of my internal anatomy. 



The next morning — Friday, 8th — a fellow-traveller from Dande- 

 nong of the previous day having some business at Toora invited 

 me to accompany him thither and back on foot, and as I was 

 somewhat at a loss what to do next I accepted his invitation. 

 Taking my gun with me in the event of finding anything of 

 interest, we proceeded by way of the railway line as being the 

 shortest, and a fine fat wallaby soon performed his last jump. 

 Within a mile or so of Toora I flushed a bird from its nest in the 

 scrub alongside the line. The nest was just completed in the 

 centre of a bush of Leptospermum, and was beautifully lined 

 with wallaby fur, so, wedging a piece of wood under the rails 

 opposite the spot, I left it, determined to call again, which I did 

 on the following Thursday, and found two eggs therein, proving 

 it to be, as I had anticipated, that of the White-eared Honey-eater. 



Saturday, 9TH. — From Foster there is laid a tram line to the 

 landing-place, the port of Foster, one of the oldest ports in 

 Victoria. It is situated on the Stockyard Creek, about three 

 miles from Foster. I decided to devote the day to a visit to the 

 landing-place, and was fortunate enough to catch the tram or 

 lorry going down. Schooners from Melbourne come up the 

 creek from Corner Inlet and discharge there, and I was informed 

 that some 15 tons of liquor were landed at the jetty for last 

 Christmas holidays. A fairly comfortable boarding-house is 

 kept here by a Mr. Taylor, from whom I learned that good 

 shooting and fishing is to be had on the inlet. I saw some 

 pike landed fully 2 feet 6 inches long. A short way up 

 the creek there is a miniature waterfall, which I photographed. 

 The only remarkable thing about it, to me, was the immense 

 host of mosquitoes surrounding it — they literally swarmed me, 

 and I was glad to get out on the open from them. Making my 

 way down the creek, I was a good deal troubled with tall nettles 

 hidden in the brackens, which are here over 6 feet high. 

 Coming back nearer the landing-place is a pleasant bend in the 

 creek, where it almost converts a piece of meadow into an island, 

 the creek flowing back towards itself to within about ten yards of 

 its higher course. 



Returning to Mr. Taylor's I had tea, and after a short rest I 

 set out for Foster. A quiet three-mile walk through the bush 

 by moonlight ended a pleasant day's outing. 



Sunday, ioth. — According to arrangement, I drove to Toora 



