112 Excursion to Pakenham. [v^orxxxi 



that extended as far as the eye can see to the south, to the 

 east where it is now flanked by the Jurassic highlands, and 

 to the west beyond the granodiorite hills on the east side of 

 Port Phillip Bay. The north-west quadrant terminates with 

 the Mount Dandenong dacite area, and the north-east with 

 Mounts Arnold, Donna Buang, and Lookout, over 40 miles 

 away. The Beenak Gap is represented by a great notch in 

 the otherwise fairly regular skyline. The near distance is 

 characterized by basalt-capped hills, under which occur 

 similar high-level river gravels to that at Kelly's Hill. A good 

 example of the resistance to erosion by the altered sediments 

 along the Silurian-granodiorite contact was pointed out, as 

 well as the soil derived and transported from the several geo- 

 logical formations and their incidental flora. Later in the 

 day, Prof. D. Hutchens, late Professor of Forestry at the Cape 

 Town (South Africa) College of Forestry, became an interested 

 member of the party. Several wishing to catch the early train 

 to town, there was not time to visit the heathy country further 

 east, where a large variety of native flowers may usually be 

 found. — F. WisEwouLD, K. A. Keble. 



Magpie, &c. — During a recent visit to Bacchus Marsh I 

 observed a young White-backed Magpie perched on one of the 

 topmost limbs of a fallen grey box. The view from the bird's 

 station was an extensive one, and no doubt Mag would have 

 found it interesting but for the persistent attacks of a pair of 

 Sordid Wood-Swallows and a pair of Black-and- White Fantails. 

 The former contented themselves bj^ diving from the branches 

 of the adjacent trees at the object of their wrath, whose equil- 

 ibrium on the limb they repeatedly upset. The fantails, on the 

 other hand, perched in turn on the back of the magpie, and by 

 the vigorous use of bill and \vings endeavoured to induce it to 

 take flight. Mag, with a "Here I am and here I stop " sort of 

 demeanour, took the buffeting in good part, till my near 

 approach necessitated a compulsory retirement from the scene 

 of hostilities. During its protracted flight the magpie was 

 vigorously assailed by one fantail and by the pair of wood- 

 swallows. Whilst the encounter on the limb was in progress a 

 pair of Blue Wrens were perched within a few feet of the mag- 

 pie, but did not attempt to molest it. On the same day I 

 noted a Yellow-tipped Pardalote enter the nest of a Fairy Martin 

 that had been constructed beneath a flume on the irrigation 

 channel. 1 he bird did not stay long in the nest, and on issuing 

 perched on the wire of an adjacent fence. Lack of time pre- 

 vented me from keeping the bird under observation in order to 

 determine the object of its visit. — J. G. O'Donoghue. 



