•j^"'] Fuiiher Notes on the Brisbane Range. 131 



Piirwaii road we toUovved its course in a northerly direction 

 lor a short distance and then bore westerly along a thorough- 

 fare thickly overgrown with the Shore Thistle, Carditits pycno- 

 ccf>halus, and evidencing signs of little usage. Ascending a 

 slight eminence, the plains again unfolded to view, and stretched 

 away in monotonous sameness as far as the eye could range in 

 fiont and to the right and left. Here and there on their com- 

 l)aratively level expanse sheets of water existed, whereon, or 

 l)y the margins thereof, the Maned Goose, Black and Mountain 

 Duck, Marsh Tern, and White-fronted Heron and Cormorant 

 were often noted. In a plantation formed for the purpose of 

 a l)reakwind and as a shelter for stock, numerous specimens of 

 Acacia pycnantha were found, possessing phyllodes of excep- 

 tionally large dimensions. The most common of the plants 

 ()ccvu"ring among the acacias were Velleya paradoxa, Isoetopsis 

 '^raminijolia, and Agrostis venusta. A large area of the plain 

 lu'real)outs was being ploughed for the first time. Hundreds 

 of Magpies had been attracted to the scene of operations in 

 ([uest of the grubs, worms, crickets, and other creatures the 

 discs revealed. Scores of hungry lairds closely attended the 

 l)loughs, whilst scores of surfeited ones lined an adjacent fence 

 and carolled softly, or viewed their foraging comrades with 

 that equanimity that only a sufficiency of "grub" can occasion. 

 Upon reaching the Anakie-Staugliton Vale road we followetl 

 its course northerly for a]:)out half a mile, and then bore westerly 

 again across country. We had not proceeded far when we 

 found ourselves in difficulties. The green sward that looked so 

 inviting from a distance j^'oved to be a veritable marsh. Tlie 

 Plain Plover scolded us from aloft, and from all points of the 

 compass innumerable frogs ])lagued our ears with an incessant 

 chorus, and White-fronted Herons fled or flew from us with 

 hoarse cries of alarm. Directing our course towards a belt of 

 timber that indicated the presence of a formation other than 

 basalt on the ])lain, we hastened on over the sodden ground, 

 and eventually found ourselves on dry granitic soil. We had 

 K'ft the daisies, Brachycomc cardiocarpa and radicans, and other 

 marsh-loving j)lants, behind us, and here was Microscris Forstcrii 

 ;i.n(l Drosera Mcnzicsii to welcome our first stej)s on tlu-ii 

 habitat. Here and there weathered bosses of granite j)rotrude(l 

 from the grassy soil, that at a little distance might be mistaken 

 by one unaccpiainted with the locality for heaps of earth thrown 

 uj) from a numl)i'r of excavations. The timbei' growing on tlu" 

 granitic aica was liiica-lypliis Iciicoxylon and liiicalyp/iis 

 viininulis. Tiic former was in Howim\ as is usual in this neigli- 

 l><)urh(»od every month ol (lie vear. and from every tret' came 

 the calls of llie Noisy .Miner, the Ixcd Wattle-bird, and tlie 

 Kosrhill I'anakiTl. Aslnilniiiu /iiiiNijiisiiiu. \ar. dcnliciiluliini. 



