168 THE VICTOKIAN NATUliALlST. 



always tell when you are on a good rookery. The stronger the 

 odour of the live guano, and the more pungent the musty smell 

 of the sea-birds themselves, the better the rookery, because the 

 more plentiful the eggs. 



Cape Wollomai, seen from a distance, seems naked and bald. 

 The summit is reached from the inland side by a series of 

 undulations, which once climbed you stand 332 feet above 

 sea-level, peering over a rugged and frowning bluff. The Cape in 

 its broadest part is about i yi miles across. As may be expected, 

 from this coign of vantage a most magnificent panorama of land 

 and water can be obtained. 



We found it convenient to work the rookeries morning and even- 

 ing, resting in camp when the day was warmest. There are two 

 advantages in turning out of camp soon after daylight. It is the 

 most pleasant time for egg-gathering, and you get the choice of 

 rookeries when " foreigners " are about. You arm yourself with 

 a crook — i.e., a staff' of thin swamp tea-tree, about 5 feet long, with 

 a crook made of fencing wire at the end. This instrument you 

 introduce into a burrow, which extends from 2 feet to 6 feet, 

 usually in a diagonal direction, in the sandy soil. If the bird is 

 at home it will rap sharply the end of the crook with its bill. 

 Then you commence to fence with the hidden bird and to feel 

 for its egg (only one being laid) till by practice you soon learn, 

 by a turn of the wrist, to hook the egg and gently draw it to the 

 surface. So on from hole to hole. Of course, many holes are 

 vacant. Others contain birds that have not laid, and these are 

 sometimes hooked instead of an egg. When a bird is so hooked 

 it is needless to state it is just as well to keep your hands out of 

 the way of its beak and claws, or there may be torn flesh, and 

 most probably language both "frequent and free." The eggs 

 are gathered into baskets, buckets, billies, &c. It is interesting 

 watching eggers at work. The most comfortable position is 

 bending on one knee when plying your crook in the burrows. 

 Others prefer laboriously bending their backs instead of their knees 

 when raking a burrow, while some sit down in a buiness (or, 

 rather, unbusiness) way at work. Occasionally you come 

 accross a small party of ladies, gloved and veiled, deftly using 

 their egg-crooks. 



Our party killed three snakes, and saw as many more which 

 made their escape. One is somewhat startled when withdrawing 

 an egging stick to see a Copper-head dart past one's hand. 

 Almost every egging party reported adventures with snakes. 

 Large Blue-tongued Lizards were plentiful. Several eggs left 

 in camp were cleanly sucked by these gaunt saurians whilst we 

 were away. We caught one in the very act, and wishing to take 

 his photograph we wiped some narcotic juice from a dirty pipe 

 across his mouth, and he posed quite gently — stupefied. 



