THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 129 



found, as the birds smear them frequently with mud of the same 

 colour as the eggs, which they deposit at the margins of the 

 swamps. With difficulty two clutches of White-winged Corcorax's 

 eggs were taken. Several Blue-faced Honey-eaters were seen, 

 and also some Yellow-throated Friar Birds, and one of the latter 

 was observed constructing its nest. 



4TH November. — Drove to Salt Lake and caught a couple of 

 Lizards — a Monitor and a Lace Lizard, or Iguana ; on the latter 

 were noticed a great many licks similar to the ones found on 

 Opossums and Native Bears. Bee-eaters were seen in numbers, 

 but they were only just commencing to tunnel, and none had 

 eggs. Orange-fronled Ephthianuras were seen in fairly numerous 

 quantities, but though some hours were spent searching round 

 the edges of this lake amongst the Salicornia bushes, only one 

 nest was taken. This contained three eggs, partly incubated; they, 

 however, were successfully treated. Much to our gratification a 

 nest of the Chestnut-eared Finch was found underneath and 

 attached to a Brown Hawk's nest. It contained six fresh eg;s. 

 The hawk's nest was occupied by two or three young ones nearly 

 ready to fly. A Buff-rumped Geobasileus' nest was also found, 

 containing young, as also several White-shouldered Campephagas', 

 and the beautiful Tricoloured Ephthianura was noted. Several 

 interesting plants were collected, amongst which were the follow- 

 ing : — Pittosporum phj/lli/roides, Nitraria Schoberi, Sida corru- 

 gata, Ptilotus obovatus, P. exaltatus, and Myoporum platycarpum; 

 the latter, covered with its large bunches of pure white flowers, 

 was a sight not easily to be forgotten. The graceful grass, Stipa 

 elegaulissima, once common near the lakes, is now exceedingly 

 scarce, owing to the sheep eating the plants off close to the 

 ground. 



5'm Novembkk. — Another trip was undertaken to the Loddon 

 River, and two clutches of White-rumped Wood Swallows' eggs 

 taken, also two eggs of the rare Swamp Lory, Plfityeercus jiaveolus. 

 The Short-billed or Brown-headed Honey-eater was noticed 

 building its nest in a sapling, which also contained the beautiful 

 little nest of the Red-capped Robin. On revisiting these nests 

 prior to our departure, two fresh eggs were taken from each. 

 The Little Acanthiza and White-plumed Honey-eaters were 

 noticed building their nests. A Black-faced Graucalus was 

 observed sitting in an old Grallina's nest, which, being impossible 

 to get, the bird was frightened off and two eggs of the Graucalus 

 were noticed, showing that this bird sometimes avails itself of the 

 Grallina's nest, and saves itself the trouble of making one of its 

 own. The Sordid, White-rumped, and White-eyebrowed Wood 

 Swallows were also found nesting in their cup-shaped structures, 

 one clutch of the White-rumped Wood Swallow's being taken from 

 a nest which had not even been lined. The rest of these nests, 



