168 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



white coverlet, stood like sentinels over the grave of the 

 magnificent vegetation which flourished here a few years ago. A 

 solitary group of three young trees, Panax sainbucifolius, each 

 exhibiting different foliage, grew on a slope. But why the 

 difference of foliage ? Being so close together, neither soil nor 

 climate could claim any influence. Bracken, of course, grew 

 everywhere, though concealed for the time. The spoliation of 

 this once beautiful valley reminded us of the devastation in the 

 Otway Forest, and especially of the scene where the fine fall on 

 the Little Aire River had been robbed of its pretty and interest- 

 ing vegetation by bush fires. The horses grew steadily more 

 nervous, because of the insecure foothold, and at last stood 

 snorting and trembling, and refused to be ridden further, so had 

 perforce to be led through knee-deep snow along a track 

 rendered treacherous by holes and boulder faces being concealed 

 by drifts. The only birds seen here were Ground Thrushes and 

 Robins, but a couple of Sparrow-Hawks circled overhead. 

 After a fruitless search for mosses and ferns of more than passing 

 interest, and after selecting some probably algse-bearing material 

 for subsequent examination, we returned to Marysville. 



Our intention had been to visit the Cumberland Creek district, 

 where the giant trees grow, but we found the road practically 

 snow-bound, and so, attracted northerly by the report of a pair of 

 new birds in the Buxton district, we set out in that direction, an 

 additional attraction being a grove of Acacia pravissima, from 

 which one Christmas season we had collected fruit specimens. A 

 few miles of undulating country road crossed one stream several 

 times, and a short gallop along the magnificent avenue known as 

 the " Long Reach," an excellent photograph of which, by Mr. 

 N. J. Caire, is on the table, brought us to the acacia, which, to 

 our delight, was in full bloom. Of all the wattles which we have 

 seen in bloom, we do not remember having seen anything prettier 

 than this graceful shrub or small tree. From the saddle we were 

 able to reach up and collect fine specimens for the herbarium. 



A few miles further on we reached some wooded and scrubby 

 paddocks near Mr. Keppel's farmhouse, and, with the owner's 

 permission, rode through these, searching the locality for the 

 reported pair of birds. Here we found small birds numerous — 

 Scrub Wrens, Robins, Blue Wrens, Acanthizas, Pardalotes, &c. — 

 while, unseen, the Coachwhip-bird kept whistling near us in a 

 grove of Cassinia aculeata and Helichrysuin ferrugineum. 

 After much patient searching and watching we discovered the 

 birds we sought, and found them to be a pair of Black-faced 

 Cuckoo-Shrikes, Graiicahis melaiiops. Mr. Keppel is giving the 

 birds every chance of breeding in that part — where they are said 

 to be quite new — by disturbing the scrub there as little as 

 possible. 



