112 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



prising prospector and trapper. What an immense area of 

 probable mineral wealth awaiting development ! The top of this 

 mount is about 5,000 feet in altitude, and covered with stunted 

 examples of the Snow Gum, Eticalyptus coriacea ? It is much 

 exposed, so we pushed onwards along the ridge, and camped at 

 an altitude of about 4,850 feet. The place was so littered with 

 fallen timber that out of consideration for the horses we merely 

 put small chains instead of hobbles on them. As the sequel 

 shows, this was a great mistake. 



19th March. — The morning broke with such a dense fog that 

 nothing could be seen 20 yards away. No bell was audible, and 

 the horses had disappeared in quest of water. After a tedious 

 search four of them were found, some 800 feet down in Zulu 

 Valley, but the Cravenville mare was missing. While looking for 

 the horses I had the rare pleasure of seeing two male Lyre-birds, 

 attended by a female bird, dancing on one of their well known 

 dancing grounds.* I rode back to Dart River (14 miles) in the 

 hope of finding the mare, but was unsuccessful. She had not 

 returned (though eventually she did do so), and, getting a billy of 

 water at Dart River, I got back to camp. The horses had then 

 been 30 hours without a drink, and were very restless, so after boiling 

 the billy we had tea and took them down to Saltpetre Creek. This 

 descent proved a serious matter, for in about a mile we descended 

 2,300 feet. Fortunately we had a small lantern, and got down 

 without mishap. Here we watered the horses and let them feed 

 on good grass for two hours. We left the creek about midnight, 

 and after hard climbing for three hours reached the camp with a 

 billy of precious water. That night and thenceforward the horses 

 were closely hobbled to prevent any recurrence of trouble. 



20th March. — About 7 a.m. I was awakened by a spirited 

 whistling at the tent door, and found a male Lyre-bird mimicking 

 the various birds of the bush. It was on a fallen tree within a 

 few feet of the door, and out of curiosity was peering into the 

 tent. Trembling with anxiety, I put the camera together — a slow 

 process, as my two companions were lying on either side — when, 

 just as the photograph was about to be taken, the bird suddenly 

 and silently disappeared. My feelings had better be imagined 

 than described. Some photographs were taken after breakfast, 

 and we continued in a northerly direction over the mount, then 

 descended steeply, 1,500 feet, along a line of old blazes, to a low 

 saddle at the source of Saltpetre Creek, where we met a newly 

 blazed track. Mt. Wild Boar consists of olive and bluish-grey 

 slates and micaceous sandstones, with strikes of N. to N.N.W., 

 and general dips of 64° to 84° to E.N.E., though a small syncline 

 also occurs. This new track we followed north for about 2 miles 

 till it ran down into a branch of Wheeler's Creek, when we found 



* For further notes on this, see my paper, " Notes on the Victoria Lyre- 

 bird, Menura victoria'," The Emu, vol. v., part 2, October, 1905, p. 63. 



