16 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Yellow Honey-eater, Ptilotis Jlava, whose nest of bark and grass 

 and spiders' webs one sees about September, the white eggs 

 tinged at the smaller end with blotches of light red ; also P. 

 Jlavescens, and others, of whose identity I am yet in doubt. My 

 knowledge is all too limited, particularly as to the habits of birds. 

 In the garden beside the pool the mangoes were recently eaten 

 off the trees. We suspected those gardeners' enemies the Flying 

 Foxes, which come in towards nightfall in enormous numbers, 

 sometimes darkening the air, and accordingly watched ; but the 

 depredators turned out to be a pair of Pale-headed Parrakeets, 

 whom we caught in the morning eating the fruit." The Flying 

 Foxes play havoc with both fruit and blossoms in the garden. 

 In June they were amongst the Acacia and Sheoak blooms in 

 the bush. " The ground beneath these trees was carpeted with 

 the flowers which the foxes had thrown down in their quest for 

 honey. Among the birds present on this occasion were a large 

 dark honey-eater (unidentified), the Sanguineus Honey-eater, 

 Friar Birds, &c. But I was surprised to note the almost total 

 absence of honey-loving lorikeets. There were a few ' Blue 

 Mountains ' about, but flying high, and I only saw two or three 

 among the blooms." 



Some undesirable neighbours were " a pair of White Goshawks, 

 who nested and reared a brood near the pool. I was tender- 

 hearted and spared the young ones too long, as loss of chickens 

 told, but at last shot one old bird, and put a bullet through the 

 branch on which the nest was built. In it were the remains of 

 a fair-sized Brown Snake. Are goshawks in the habit of 

 feeding on such reptiles ? 



" When the streams cease running many animals come to the 

 pool by night to drink. The tracks of the Great Black-faced 

 Kangaroo, or Wallaroo, Macropus robustus, sink deeply into the 

 sandy margin of the waterhole. Smaller kangaroos and wallabies 

 come too. The wallabies, after drinking, pass on into the garden, 

 where sweet potatoes offer a luxury not to be missed. The 

 tracks of the Kangaroo Rat, Bandicoot, Native Cat, Opossum, 

 and sometimes of the Dingo, are also to be seen. The Dingo 

 never comes close to, and even into the water, as other animals 

 do, but stands well back and never lingers long. Whilst drinking 

 the neck is stretched well out, and when thirst is quenched the 

 dog turns tail at once, like the coward he is, and slinks away 

 amongst the trees. His tracks are always straight to water and 

 straight back ; he never wanders up and down as though loth to 

 leave it. If one wanted to get amongst the marsupials he should 

 have been here in September, when the old grass had been burnt 

 and a nice young growth was springing. One Sunday all sorts 

 and sizes were seen during a ride which I took. There were 

 over 20 very large kangaroos in one mob, besides several twos 



