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dDffidal ODrgaii of the Jlustnifasian ©ruithologist'?' olluiou. 



" Bir«ls of a fcattjcr.' 



Vol. IV.] 1ST APRIL, 1905. [Part 4. 



Notes on a Trip to the Yandanooka District, 



Western Australia. 



By Alex. Wm. Milligan. 



My annual holiday last springtime (September, 1904) was spent 

 in the above district, in company with Dr. Alex. Morrison, the 

 Western Australian Government Botanist, and Mr. C. P. Conigrave, 

 of the Western Australian Museum, Perth. 



Our first camp was pitched on the Yandanooka sheep station, 

 the property of Mr. S. J. Phillips, formerly member in the local 

 State Parliament for the Irwin electorate. After remaining there 

 ten days we struck camp and went to Ebano, an outlying sheep 

 station also belonging to the gentleman named, and situate some 

 16 miles inland. From there Mr. Conigrave made an arduous 

 journey on foot to Cadgee Cadgee sheep station, some 46 miles 

 farther inland, and penetrated what is known as the " mulga " 

 country. 



Yandanooka is a siding on the Midland railway line, and is distant 

 from Perth about 260 miles northward. 



The main object of our trip was to endeavour to ascertain the 

 southern and western limits of northern species, the northern 

 limits of southern species, and the distribution of species generally. 



The Museum collectors had already run east to west lines from 

 Pindar (some 80 miles north of Yandanooka) to Wurarga, Day 

 Dawn, and farther eastward. The year before we had cut a line 

 from Mogumber to the Wongan Hills, 50 miles inland and east- 

 ward ; and I had in earlier years cut various lines, between the 

 Darling Ranges and the western coast, from Perth to Cape Men- 

 telle, some 200 miles south of the former. I had also cut an east 

 and west line from Lake Yanchep, some 35 miles north of Perth. 



In the present trip Mr. Phillips and his station manager, Mr. 

 Herbert J. Lee Steere, helped us considerably with their valuable 

 local knowledge, and also placed at our disposal one of the station 

 teams to take us and our impedimenta from camp to camp, and 

 above all they evinced a lively interest in our labours ; for all 

 which we must record our grateful acknowledgments. 



The country from Yandanooka to Ebano is what is known as 

 " jam " {Acacia acuminata) and " York gum " (Eucalyptus loxo- 

 phlcba), interspersed with scrubs of " prickly reminder " (a species 



