126 THK VICTORIAN NATUKALIST. [Vol. XXIV. 



scores of last season's. A few insects were secured. A short 

 walk soon brought us to our starling point, and, after boiling the 

 inevitable " billy," we followed the course of the creek for a 

 short distance, and soon found nests of the Yellow-tufted Honey- 

 eater and Yellow-rumped Tit within three feet of each other, both 

 containing young ones. As this is a favourite nesting place of 

 the Pardalotes, we soon discovered several of their holes, and 

 whilst we were standing within a few feet of one the birds came 

 with food for their family, and passed in and out of their burrow 

 regardless of our presence. On one trip both birds were in the 

 hole together. The depth of the hole was surprising, when the 

 delicacy of the anatomy of the bird is considered. A thin twig 

 about 20 inches long failed to reach the end of the tunnel. 

 Although birds were very scarce, comparatively with what they 

 usually are, we compiled a list of over 40 species, as follows : — 

 Brown Hawk, White-backed Crow-Shrike, Sooty Crow-Shrike, 

 Bronzewing Pigeon ; Pallid, Fantail, and Bronze Cuckoos ; 

 Pennant's Parrakeets, Eosellas, Wattle-birds ; Spiny-cheeked, 

 Yellow-tufted, Fuscous, Yellow-faced, New Holland, Spine-billed, 

 and White-plumed Honey-eaters; Blue Wren, Bee-eaters, Babblers; 

 Yellow-breasted, Hooded, and Scarlet-breasted Robins ; Yellow- 

 tailed, Buff-rumped, and Lineated Acanthizas; Black-faced 

 Cuckoo-Shrike, Striated and Spotted Pardalotes, Black Fantail ; 

 Restless, Brown, and White-shafted Flycatchers ; Welcome, Tree, 

 and Wood Swallows ; Black-breasted Plover, Giant Kingfisher, 

 White-throated and Rufous-breasted Thickheads, Pipits, Xero- 

 philas, Brown Tree-creeper, Ravens, Harmonious Thrush, 

 Spotted-sided and Red-browed Finches, Swallow Dicseum, and 

 Stubble Quail. 



Some notes on the other features of the excursion have been 

 handed in by Mr. F. G. A. Barnard, who writes as follows : — 



"Some half-dozen reports of excursions to Melton have been 

 presented to this Club and published in the Naturalist, but all 

 from an ornithologist's point of view, so on this occasion a few 

 words about the botany of the district may be of interest. It was 

 unfortunate that our visit was made during an abnormally dry 

 season ; in fact, a farmer upon whom we called said there had 

 been no rain for twelve months, and the country seemed to bear 

 out his remark. The fact that a patch of ' mallee ' occurs near 

 Melton gives the locality some botanical interest, but as it takes a 

 good botanist to distinguish the different species of eucalypts I am 

 unable to say which species occur there. The only one seen in 

 flower during the day was determined as Eucalyptus melliodora, 

 one of the 'box' trees. As we crossed the paddocks towards the 

 Djerriwarrh Creek — locally called Deep Creek, for shortness, I 

 suppose — the first plant to attract our attention was the 

 amaranth, Ptilotus spathulatus, with its curious flower spike. 



