THE ViCTOKIAN NATURALIST. 79 



and disturbing all the Shrikes that had settled on the hedge to 

 feed. They were all driven ofif, and one or two that the little 

 hawk had struck in passing called out loudly in their fright, yet 

 the Sparrow Hawk was not nearly as large as they were. He 

 seemed to disturb them for amusement, as I watched him do 

 the same thing several times, and it evidently was not for the 

 purpose of procuring food. Tiiese Shrikes took other fruit be- 

 sides the blackberries, in the same way that crows occasionally 

 do, and being large birds, soon destroyed a good deal. We 

 noticed a few Harmonious Shrike-Thrushes, Spur-winged Plovers, 

 Southern Stone Plovers, White-fronted Herons, Brown Hawks, 

 Brown Tree-Creepers, Yellow-breasted Robins, and Black-faced 

 Graucalus. Bell-Birds were numerous, and it is puzzling why 

 they should be so local, as you come across large numbers of 

 them in a certain place — of course, always near water — both in low 

 and high timber, and yet you may pass many other such places 

 and not hear a bird, and then come across them again, generally 

 a good many miles away. Not only do they appear to be very 

 local, but they seem always to live in large flocks, and you rarely, 

 if ever, come across a single pair of birds far away from the 

 others. The beautiful nest of a Flame-breasted Robin was 

 noticed, snugly built between the interstices of a rough piece of 

 bark. 



We reached the accommodation house at Genoa at sundown, 

 and turned all our horses out, as the rest of the journey was 

 to be by boat. On the river flat here were large crops of maize, 

 and when nearly ripe store pigs were turned into them, where 

 they rapidly became fat, rooting up the maize plants and feeding 

 on the corn. The pigs were then sent to Twofold Bay, a distance 

 of 60 miles, to be shipped to market — it paid better than selling 

 the grain. Black, Tiger, and Copper-head Snakes are found here, 

 and the Water Lizard is often seen lying basking in the sun on 

 the rocks or logs close to the water's edge, but directly they are 

 disturbed down they go into the water, and consequently are 

 difficult to capture alive. In the river eels are plentiful, and we 

 were informed of some having been caught weighing 28 lbs. each 

 — a large size — and if set nets are used many of the fish caught 

 are eaten by the eels before the morning. On one occasion a 

 Water Lizard, which had been partly disabled, jumped into the 

 water, and while it was swimming on the surface a large eel 

 seized it and dragged it down, and it did not reappear. Platypus 

 were also numerous, and one large specimen was caught in a net 

 during our visit, but escaped from captivity during the night. 

 They will climb out of almost anything, and Echidnas are equally 

 as proficient in the same art. The Platypus are generally 

 caught here in nets, and as far down the river as CJipsy Point, 

 where the water is quite salt ; and in times of flood they have 



