THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 127 



NOTES ON A COLLECTING TRIP TO THE MURRAY 

 AND LODDON RIVERS. 



By C. French, Jun. 



(Read before Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, llth January, 1897.) 



Our part}-, consisting of Messrs. G. E. Shepherd, T. A. Brittle- 

 bank, and myself, left Melbourne on Saturday, 31st October, our 

 destination being Murray Meadows, the residence of Mr. G. 

 Morton, an enthusiastic naturalist. 'The journey was very unin- 

 teresting for our purpose till after Macorna had been reached ; 

 from thence towards Kerang, close to the railway line, the 

 following birds were noticed, viz. : — Black-backed Crow Shrike, 

 Brown Hawk, White and Straw-necked Ibis, Australian Crane, 

 Wattled Plover, Spoonbill, and ducks of various kinds. Of 

 plants we noticed Ptilohis exaltatus, with its conspicuous pink 

 .flowers ; Bassia, Atriplex, Kochia, and other Salsolacese ; also 

 several species of Goodenia. 



On reaching Kerang we were met at the station by Mr. Morton, 

 who informed us that, owing to the exceptionally dry season, the 

 aquatic birds were not laying ; however, we decided to try our 

 luck with the land birds Mr. Morton accompanied us in the 

 train to Lake Charm station, situated about 190 miles north west 

 of Melbourne, where his conveyance met us, and we were driven 

 across to " Murray Meadows," a distance of twelve miles, passing 

 en route the beautiful lake from which the railway station takes 

 its name. Here we noticed the following aquatic birds, viz : — 

 Black Swan, Dottrel (of two kinds), several sons of ducks, 

 Coot, Grebe, Avocets, &c. Our attention was also drawn to the 

 two salt lakes where, we were told, it was probable that eggs of 

 the Orange-fronted Ephthianura might be obtained ; also of Bee- 

 eaters and White-winged Superb Warblers. 



Our destination reached, we were welcomed by Mrs. Morton, 

 and after having had tea, the remainder of the evening was 

 spent in discussing matters of natural history, especially 

 regarding snakes, Mr. Morton informing us that a person known 

 as " Professor " Davies had the previous season paid a visit to the 

 Murray for the purpose of collecting live snakes, and had 

 obtained a sackful. One evening, the weather being very, hot, 

 the " professor " said the snakes were sweating, and in another 

 moment he thrust his hand into the sack and stirred them up, so 

 as to let the air get amongst them. We were also informed that 

 he is often bitten by them, but apparently takes no notice, as the 

 poison has no visible effect on his system. Since our return, 

 Mr. Morton writes that this snake-fancier caught ninety snakes 

 (principally Tigers) in one day, and probably this consignment 



