THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 29 



casionally in the scrub a large yellow cobweb is noticed, which 

 belongs to a big black spider, Hephila fuscipes, with a few yellow 

 markings on it. The web is very strong and sticky, and lizards 

 have been known to have been caught and held by them. I 

 should think that a small bird flying into the web would be easily 

 held. The spider itself is sluggish. Pheasant Coucals, Centropus 

 phasianus, were very plentiful, their loud call being often heard. 

 A nest was obtained last year by Mr. Hislop on a thick bunch of 

 ferns growing on a small eucalyptus tree, and occasionally they 

 nest on Pandanus Palms, but, as is well known, they generally 

 build in the long grass on the ground. 



I now left on a visit to King Plains, accompanied by Mr. R. 

 Hislop. A packhorse led by a black boy carried our luggage and 

 we walked. The first day's journey was up Stuckey's Gap and 

 along the road towards Cooktown, much of which was through 

 scrub. When passing through some open forest country, an Allied 

 Fruit Pigeon, Ptilinopus assimilis, was seen silting on its nest in 

 a Eucalyptus, which contained a young one, an apparently 

 unusual place lor these birds to build, as so far I had only found 

 them nesting in the scrub. An Iguana, Varanus varius, which 

 had lately been killed by some travellers in front of us, was found 

 on our track, and our native, carefully wrapping it up in a wisp of 

 dry grass, carried it on for his supper. Passing over a low range 

 covered with stunted timber, a good many Banded Honey-eaters 

 were seen. Our first day's tramp was about twenty miles, and we 

 stayed at a friend's house for the night. In a Mango tree heavily 

 laden with fruit, alongside the verandah, a pair of Yellow Honey- 

 eaters, Ptilotis fiava , had built their nest, which contained young 

 ones. These birds were locally known as the Canary, and they 

 had a very cheerful note. Dollar Birds, Eurystomus pacificus, 

 too were plentiful, with their curious notes, and they were, as 

 usual, very restless and erratic in their movements. 



Next day we had another walk of nearly thirty miles before 

 reaching Mr. Gibson's homestead, our destination. On the way 

 we passed numbers of dead cattle, which had died from tick 

 fever. They were mostly near water. Those affected seem to 

 lose all power over their hind-quarters first, and if they attempt to 

 run often fall down. As the season was dry, feed was not plenti- 

 ful. Many of the cattle were consequently very poor in condition. 

 Those we passed by that were down and almost dead had 

 thousands of ticks on them, which caused the fever. The females 

 when full grown were about the size of a large pea, but the males 

 are very small. The ticks do not perforate the hide, only leaving 

 a very small contused looking wound where they had fastened on. 

 They do not seem to attack human beings, fortunately. In 

 walking through the long kangaroo and other grass, our trousers 

 simply got covered with young and very minute ticks, smaller than 



