Vict. Nat. 



152 NicHOLLS, A Trip to the Bass Valley. [^"^d 



treme head, at a place known as " Dunlop's Patch," a 

 remnant of the original scrub. On the road out we halted to 

 investigate a piece of likely-looking ground for Emu-Wrens. 

 After half an hour's search we put up a few field-wrens, 

 Calamanthus, and that was all. We had a good opportunity 

 of observing the way in which these tiny ground-lDirds stick 

 close to cover. They were very difficult to flush, flew just on 

 a level with the Swamp Tea-tree, and only betrayed their 

 position by their sharp, short call notes. The day was warm 

 and the road up hill, winding, and muddy. One honey-eater, 

 the White-eared, was seen, also several hunting parties of 

 Acanthizas. All throughout the trip we came across the 

 winter bands of these tits, or thornbills, consisting of several 

 species — the Yellow-tailed, Acanthiza chrysorrhoa, Buft'-tailed, 

 A. reguloides, and the Striated, A. lineata. Every band was 

 accompanied by a pair of White-shafted Fantails. Magpies and 

 Butcher-Birds were plentiful along the road, and the rich, 

 flute-like notes of the latter sounded clear and sharp in the 

 vales between the hills. 



At a bend in the road the distant Baw Baws stood out away 

 to the north, distinct against the sky-line, with Mount Baw Baw 

 raising its head above the rest of the range. It was probably 

 seventy miles away, and all the country in between seemed 

 bare of green timber, even to the crests of the hill-tops. The 

 one fact that impressed us right throughout the trip was the 

 disappearance of the forest and undergrowth. Another twenty 

 years, and there will hardly be a tree standing in the district. 

 The National Park at Wilson's Promontory has not been 

 acquired a bit too soon. 



Arriving at Dunlop's, we ascertained that the 200 acres of 

 timbered country before us was not original scrub. Twenty 

 years ago the proprietor cut it out, and the present growth 

 is a secondary one. In this patch the trees, chiefly messmate, 

 are slender spars for the most part, 80 to 100 feet high, with a 

 few of the monarchs of the virgin timber still standing. The 

 long hill slope from the farm leads down to a small creek, in 

 which tree-ferns, dogwood, musk, hazel, clematis, and all the 

 tangle of a Gipsland gully undergrowth, still remains. Half- 

 way down the hill we boiled the billy. Birds were very 

 scarce, a few Thornbills, Rosellas, Butcher-birds, Scrub-Wrens, 

 with an occasional Tree-creeper and Scarlet-breasted Robin 

 being noted. 



The call notes of the Butcher-birds in this gully were wonder- 

 ful, both in number and variety. The whole valley seemed to 

 resound with them, and we heard the calls of many other birds 

 we did not see. They followed one another in quick succession 



