118 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



tent poles had been cut and places cleared. After lunch the 

 ladies went for a walk to a neighbouring farm, and the others set 

 to work to erect the tents and otherwise fix up the camp, and 

 long before nightfall everything was made ready, even to having 

 our dining tent lighted with gas. There being six tents in the en- 

 campment, it presented quite an imposing appearance, as the 

 paintings by Miss Cochrane and Mrs. Coghill plainly show. The 

 site of the camp was in a slight hollow among tall, green timber, 

 and about thirty yards from a cool, fern-shaded creek, where a 

 capital bathing-place was made by forming a small dam across 

 the stream, in which task Messrs. Fulton and Coghill displayed 

 considerable energy. 



As we were situated in virgin forest country our collecting 

 ground lay all round the camp, and therefore we had not to go 

 far afield to collect. So when a pair of Laughing Jackasses 

 (Dacelo) made the forest resound with their unique musical efforts, 

 at daylight on Saturday morning, the members were early astir, 

 and, after coffee at 5.30, went out exploring until breakfast at 7. 

 That meal being over, we strolled along the creek or about the 

 forest collecting, getting more or less scattered as each pursued 

 his favourite hobby ; but all returned to lunch at midday, when 

 we were joined by seven additional members and friends who had 

 arrived by the midday train. The second contingent was also 

 met by Mr. G. Backhouse, who drove the two lady visitors and 

 the luggage to the camp, but the others walked by a shorter track 

 through the bush. They, too, were loud in their praises at the 

 beauty of the scenery from the railway line. 



In the afternoon the ladies remained about the camp, sketching 

 and collecting, while the rest of the party proceeded to the Cock- 

 atoo Creek, passing through, on the way, the splendid farm worked 

 by Mr. A. B. Backhouse ; and it was a pleasure walking over the 

 well-grassed and cultivated land after going through so much 

 forest country. The Cockatoo is a clear, fast-running stream, in 

 which some of the members indulged in fishing, while others 

 collected on its banks, among the thickets of tree ferns, (Sec. At 

 5.30 a start was made for the camp, which was reached soon 

 after six. After tea the evening was occupied in arranging the 

 specimens collected, and all seemed well satisfied with the work 

 of the day. 



On Sunday morning we were again awakened at daylight by the 

 delightful concert of birds, and their clear voices from the trees 

 and scrub around us seemed innumerable and impossible to de- 

 scribe. The bush seemed alive with them, and their presence 

 added much to the enjoyment of our camp-out. Breakfast was 

 rather later, and about 9 most of the gentlemen made a start 

 for Mount Irene, about three miles away, on the Nar-Nar-Goon 

 road, the ladies following on a hour later, being driven to the 



