Vol.xxviii.j NiCHOLLS, y4 Trip to the Bass Valley. 149 



A TRIP TO THE BASS VALLEY. 

 By E. Brooke Nicholls. 

 (^Reacl before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, gth October, 191 1 .) 

 Having heard the Bass Valley often spoken of as the habitat 

 of one of the rarest of our native animals, and also as the 

 southern limit of certain northern bird forms, such as the 

 Sanguineous Honey-eater, the Carinated or Black-faced Fly- 

 catcher, and the Long-billed Scrub-Wren, it seemed likely that 

 a visit to its vales and hills would prove of interest. 



With the object of spending a pleasant holiday and making 

 a record of birds seen and heard, our party of three spent last 

 Easter in and around the valley, and, on the advice of Mr. 

 W. Chapman, of the Powlett River railway construction camp, 

 made Nyora, on the South-Eastern railway, 55 miles from town, 

 our headquarters. 



This township is distant some two and a half miles from 

 the valley, but, being the junction for the Bass Valley and 

 Powlett River railways, we found it a convenient centre from 

 which to work. A train leaves Nyora about g in the morning, 

 and, after traversing almost the whole length of the valley, cuts 

 through the Bass Ranges close to the sea and continues on to 

 Kilcunda and Wonthaggi. It returns again at five in the 

 evening, thus leaving ample time for an excursion from any 

 of the intervening stations. 



Roughly estimated, the Bass V^alley is about 20 miles in 

 length. Woodleigh, the first station, some six miles from 

 Nyora, is situated about the middle of the valley, which is 

 there about two miles wide. Ranges of hills, several hundred 

 feet in height, enclose it on either side, and the Bass River, a 

 swollen, muddy stream, a few yards in width, runs at the foot 

 of the western range. We were surprised to find this part of 

 the valley practically denuded of timber, the hills cleared right 

 to their tops and covered with bracken only. On the flats the 

 well-grassed paddocks, blooming with dandelion and red clover, 

 told of many years of occupation. The river is fringed with 

 Silver Wattles, with an occasional blackwood here and there. 

 A few tree-ferns rising some 20 to 25 feet above the grass and 

 clover at their base attest the former luxuriance of the vege- 

 tation. 



A short distance from the station one or two belts of timber 

 have been left. The trees consist mainly of Messmate and 

 Blue Gum, with Swamp Tea-tree and Bayonet-grass (in seed) in 

 the marshy parts. The timber is being cut for the Powlett 

 mines, and in a few years the Bass Valley will be stripped to 

 the last tree. From the station yard at Woodleigh a short 



