Oct., 1909.] THE VICTOKIAN NATURALIST. 65 



brought the luggage tumbling from the racks, duly arrived at 

 Hopetoun, and sought out a hotel. Up betimes in the morning, 

 we had a look round, the township, and were surprised to see a 

 fine sheet of water on the outskirts of the town, which we forth- 

 with visited, and found it to be several feet deep and containing 

 excellent fresh water — in fact, it was the town's water supply. 

 This was one of the many surprises we were destined to meet 

 with, for our preconceived idea of this portion of the Wimmera 

 district took the shape of a howling wilderness, a good-for-nothing 

 desert. 



As was but natural, bird-life was plentiful about the lake, which 

 is known as Lake Koorong. In some eucalypts growing along 

 the margin of the lake we found the nest of a Mud-Lark, Grallina 

 picata, containing three young birds. Out on the open water 

 Black Swans, Black Ducks, and Coots were plentiful, whilst the 

 Marsh Terns, in their white plumage, flickered over the lake, 

 betokening the presence of fish fry in the waters below. The 

 White-fronted Heron, Notophoyx novce-hollandi(s, the Little 

 Egret, Garzetta nigripes, and the Black-fronted Dottrel, jEgialitis 

 melanops, patrolled the shallows, and searched for water insects 

 and Crustacea. Those alert, graceful birds, the Tippet (irebes, 

 Podicipes cristatus, were also seen, as ever and anon they 

 eclipsed themselves when diving after their prey, then as 

 suddenly there was a flash of iridescent white as their pearly 

 breasts emerged once more from the water. So quickly do they 

 disappear on the approach of danger that it is not difticult to 

 believe the story told of their ability to dive out of harm's way 

 on seeing the flash of a gun before the shot reaches them. 



The full and rounded, richly melodious note of the Harmonious 

 Thrush resounded through the trees, whilst the White-plumed 

 Honey-eater, Plilotis penicillata, the Spiny-cheeked Honey-eater, 

 Acanthochcera riifigularis, and the Black and White Fantail, or 

 Shepherd's Companion, Rhipidura tricolor, kept up an incessant 

 twittering as they searched the trees for insects. Overhead the 

 Whistling Eagle, Haliastur sphenurus, and the Wedge-tailed 

 Eagle, Uroaetus audax, soared around on the look-out for their 

 furred or feathered victims. 



On returning to the hotel for breakfast we found Mr. S. 

 Poulton, the owner of Pine Plains station, waiting for us with a 

 buggy and pair of horses, so we drove out some lo miles to the 

 head station, Camba-Canya. As we drove along a first-class 

 road, bordered on either side by scattered, stunted eucalypts and 

 Needle-wood Trees, Hakea Itucoptera, all that was left of the once 

 dense mallee, now replaced by wheat-fields, we noticed the Brown 

 Tree-creeper, Clmiacteris scandens, the Brown Flycatcher, Pseudo- 

 gerygone jf^usca, the Rufous Song-Lark, Cinclorhamphus rufescens, 

 and the Black-breasted Plover, Zonifer tricolor. A pair of Mountain 



