28 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



matter some friendly spirits caught her up and carried her off, 

 and at her wish took her round the district to see the spirits of 

 other departed relatives. These recounted to her some of her 

 misdeeds and those of their enemies, and of the dreadful means 

 by which they had accomplished, or intended to accomplish, their 

 evil designs upon her and their friends, such as the mysterious 

 neck-twisting, &c. She mentioned many of the places she had 

 been to, some of them thirty or forty miles away. While on her 

 journey she heard the old man calling her from the camp and 

 answered him. Next day Mr. Hislop tried to show the blacks 

 how they had been deceived by the old lady, and explained how 

 it was done, but Courangie stuck to her story, and the natives 

 repudiated the idea of their having been duped, and reiterated 

 their belief in the reality of her communication with the spirit 

 world. She strongly objected to her photo, being taken, and 

 quickly disappeared if she saw me with my camera, so I had to 

 take a snapshot of her as opportunity offered, unknown to her. 



When in the open forest country several nests of the Superb 

 Fruit Pigeon, Ptilinopus superbus, were found. Their nests were 

 always situated in some thick-leaved tree. They were built near 

 the ends of the branches, nearly hidden in the foliage. In every 

 case it was the male bird that was sitting on the nest. Not far 

 from the Bloomfield River a White-headed Asprey, Pandion 

 lecuocephahts, had built its bulky nest, near the top of a tall 

 eucalyptus tree and difficult to get at ; on another tree a Brown 

 Hawk had laid its three eggs on a large bunch of ferns, not 

 making any nest, properly speaking. The season being dry, there 

 was very little water in any of the creeks, and when sitting down 

 by a waterhole in the scrub we used to watch the numerous birds 

 that came to drink or to bathe, such as White headed, Allied and 

 other pigeons, honey- eaters, and various other small birds. We 

 never saw a pigeon take a bath, but many of the other birds 

 did, especially honey- eaters. All the ground and dry creeks 

 in the scrub are covered with dead leaves, and tons weight must 

 be washed down to the sea every wet season. After rain trees 

 and branches fall more frequently than at other times, and at 

 night when the ground is wet phosphorescence in the soil is often 

 very bright, especially when the earth is disturbed. Fire Flies 

 were often seen here, as well as on the higher land, but only in 

 the scrub. 



The Torres Strait Pigeons fly very high going and returning 

 from the islands, and during rain they often leave the scrub and 

 settle on the big trees near its edge. Many of the beetles have 

 the habit, when disturbed, of dropping off the leaf they may be on 

 and then remaining apparently lifeless on the ground. They are 

 difficult to find among the grass ; at night many of the larger 

 kinds buzz past with great speed and considerable noise. Oc- 



