August, 1907.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 77 



light advanced the birds could be seen coming to roost among 

 the saplings in scores. The Yellow-billed Spoonbill, and that 

 graceful bird the White Egret, were flushed, but the latter was 

 out of plumage. 



Excursions were taken every day in different directions, and 

 many additional birds met with, such as the Black Moor-Hen, the 

 Darter, Teal, and the Black Cormorant ; while on the hills 

 close at hand were seen the White-winged Chough, the Babbler, 

 the White-browed Babbler, the White-fronted Chat, the Black- 

 faced Cuckoo-Shrike, White-plumed and Short-billed Honey-eaters, 

 Brown Quail, White Cockatoo, Rosella Parrakeet, Cockatoo- 

 Parrakeet, Purple-crowned Lorikeet, Musk Lorikeet, Little 

 Lorikeet, Black and White Eantail, Spotted Pardalote, Magpie- 

 Lark, Crow, Kestrel, Black-backed Magpie, WhistUng Eagle, 

 Reed-Warbler, and House-Swallow. 



One day (7th March) about noon a large flock of the beautiful 

 little Bee-eaters made their appearance at the camp, apparently 

 collecting together after their breeding season preparatory to 

 moving north, for next morning not a single bird was to be seen 

 or heard. 



Every evening scores of Tree-Martins came to roost amongst a 

 large patch of Bulrushes, Typha angutili/blia, opposite the camp, 

 and an examination of the patch showed it to have been been 

 used for that purpose for some time. As these birds in the day 

 time are generally seen flying very high, or inhabiting the higher 

 tree-tops, the selection of these bulrushes, where they perch side 

 by side on the horizontally bent down stems, seems a remarkable 

 proceeding. 



In the adjacent paddocks large flocks of the Straw-necked Ibis 

 were to be seen feeding on the numerous grasshoppers, and thus 

 indicating their usefulness to the farmer or grazier. We were 

 fortunate enough to see several specimens of that singular 

 mammal, the Platypus, Oruithorhynchus anatinus, in the quieter 

 portions of the stream. During the outing three species of snakes 

 were seen and despatched — viz., the Brown Snake, Diemenia 

 textilis, the Black Snake, Pseudechis porphyj-iaciis, and the Tiger 

 Snake, JVotechis scutatus. 



On the last morning ot our cam[j we added four more birds to 

 our list — the Bittern, the Pectoral Rail, and the Black-fronted 

 Dottrel — while shortly before breaking-up camp a Wedge-tailed 

 Eagle was seen circling high overhead. 



Owing to the duck season being open, many of the birds were 

 very shy, and at times it took a lot of strategy to get near enough 

 to identify them. Sometimes we had to wade a considerable 

 distance through the water, while at other times it was necessary 

 to crawl through thistles or long grass. 



Our camp came to an end on Saturday afternoon, 9th March, 



