100 Kershaw, A Naturalist in Northern Queensland, r,)!'^ vll'i'; 



' ^ L^ ol. XXXI. 



were remarkably quick to detect their tracks in the thick 

 matted grass, which they would quickly follow up and suddenly 

 jumj) with l)otli feet on to a tussock, rarely failing to secure 

 the animal, although to us there was nothing to indicate its 

 presence. On one occasion one of our blackboys started 

 chopping at the base of a large gum-tree. On inquiring what 

 he was after, he said, " Him feller, nails on him back," which 

 we soon found was not a bad description of the Echidna, or 

 Porcupine Ant-eater. At another camp some pack-saddles 

 were packed close together near our tent. One of the blacks 

 started removing them, but suddenlj' stopped, and, securing 

 a three-pronged spear, thrust it between them. This was 

 followed b}^ a sharp squealing, and we found he had speared 

 a small native cat, Dasyurus. Flying-foxes were ])lentiful in 

 the dense scrub, where they were often seen in great numbers, 

 hanging head downwards from the branches of some tall 

 tree. A small rat, Mus, ? sp., was found in its nest of dry grass 

 in a dead stump about six feet from the ground, and another 

 captured in our tent. The Spotted Cuscus, or Phalanger, 

 Phalanger maculcitus, inhabits the scrubs, but was apparently 

 far from common. We found only two specimens, about half 

 grown, one of which was sleeping, coiled u]:» on a branch in the 

 scrub. The Dingo occurs here, and. according to the blacks, 

 is fairly numerous ; but, though we did not see any. their tracks 

 were occasionally met with. 



I quite expected we should find snakes very numerous on 

 tlie mainland, but was disappointed. We saw very few, and 

 only about half a dozen species, the Carpet Snake being the 

 most common. The largest of these was eleven feet long, and. 

 when discovered, had just swallowed a half-grown wallaby. 

 Another, about eight feet long, was lying stretched out full length 

 on a fallen log, and was very quiet. It was pulled off the log 

 by its tail, and coiled on to my net handle, but made no attempt 

 to strike. Another species was discovered in our tent. We 

 were busy, late one night, working in the bed of the creek, 

 finishing off some skins, when Mr. M'Lennan decided to turn in. 

 The night was dark, and I was using our only lantern. We 

 were suddenly startled by a shout and excited call for a light, 

 and then a shot, and, hurrying to the tent, we found a snake 

 a little over four feet long, which had coiled itself on his ]iillow. 

 Fortunately, he had struck a match to search for some missing 

 article before lying down. It proved, however, to be a non- 

 poisonous species, but we were more careful to search our grass 

 beds in the future. Although the Death Adder was said to be 

 very numerous, we only secured one specimen, and this on 

 Lloyd Island. A tree snake and two or three other species 

 were also captured. Lace Lizards, ]^aranus, were fairly 



