80 THE VICTORIAN NATUKALIST. 



gone down the river to the Upper Mallacoota Inlet in fresh 

 water, and when the river returned to its normal condition they 

 have been caught in the salt water ; they were plentiful enough 

 where the water was brackish. We left the next morning by 

 boat for Mallacoota Inlet, a distance of 25 miles down the 

 Genoa River. 



The stream for the first few miles was narrow, occasionally 

 partially obstructed by fallen timber, but as we got further down 

 it widened out considerably, and gradually became brackish as it 

 neared the Upper Mallacoota Inlet. When being rowed down 

 the river we occasionally disturbed some Black Ducks, but very 

 few, and we passed a colony of small Black Shags resting over the 

 water on the exposed limbs of an old dead tree which had fallen 

 into the river. Some swallows were noticed high in the air 

 chasing a hawk, when the latter bird took a rapid dive almost in 

 a perpendicular Une towards the earth and alighted on a tree 

 near the river. A pair of Ospreys watched us as we passed by, 

 and further on we saw a pair of the beautiful White-bellied Sea 

 Eagles, which let us pass comparatively near them, and within 

 easy shooting distance, but they were not disturbed. A few 

 Nankeen Night Herons were also seen, and several specimens of 

 the Little Black and White and the Australian Cormorants, but 

 waterfowl were not plentiful. When in the salt water we trailed 

 a line behind the boat and caught a few Skipjack. The Upper 

 Inlet was about three miles long and two broad, and was con- 

 nected with the Lower by a passage about a mile in length, with 

 fairly high land on each side. On passing through this we came 

 to Mallacoota Inlet, which is about seven miles long by four 

 broad. 



We had often heard of its beauties, but it far exceeded our 

 expectations. The water is salt and very clear, and the banks 

 covered with timber to the water's edge. Many of the gullies 

 that ran down to the inlet were clothed with thick, dark scrub, 

 often festooned and matted together with creepers, and their 

 dense shade afforded a cool retreat for the birds. It has various 

 arms running inland some distance, and the coast line is very 

 broken, making numerous little bays, some with sandy shores, 

 others rock or gravel. Quartz and sandstone reefs are to be 

 seen in places on some of the steep banks running into the inlet, 

 and some of these are now being worked and proving highly 

 gold-bearing, and Mallacoota, at no distant date, will be doubt- 

 less the centre of a large mining district. The clear waters teem 

 with fish of various kinds, Mullet, Skipjack, Schnapper, and Flat- 

 head being especially plentiful. On the shore the Brush-tailed 

 Wallaby and Red-bellied Wallaby are abundant, as well as 

 Wonga-Wonga and Bronze-wing Pigeons. Some parts of the 

 inlet are shallow, and at low water sandbanks are left exposed 



