t8 O'Donohi i . Wanderingson the Murray Flood-Plain, [vouxxxii. 



piece oi fencing wire from the limb oi a tree. The fish, when 

 killed sev< n years previously, was estimated to weigh i cwt. 



The passage "I the sand-dunes proved hard and tiresome 

 travelling, and we were pleased when we again found ourselves 

 on the flood-plain, with its more uniform grade and firmer 

 though barer ground. Here, as the going proved good, the 

 horses were livened up, and living vistas oi Grey and Black 

 Box live-, with the Buloak interspersed, opened oul on either 

 side in quick and varied succession. Our rapid progress was 

 at length staved by a long, low, limestone ridge that ushered 

 in a new type of vegetation. Upon this elevation we observed 

 for the first time the Leafless Ballart, Exocarpos aphylla, the 

 Broad-fruited Myoporum, Myoporum platycarpunr, the Needle 

 Grevillea, Grevillea triternata, the Southern Cassia, Cassia 

 austral is. the Giant Hopbush, Dodonea viscosa, var. spathulata, 

 and the Berrigan, Heterodendron oleeefolium, with the Purple 

 Pentratrope, Pentratropis quinquepartita, sprawling over it. 

 The Umbrella Acacia, Acacia Osswaldi, and the Needle Hakea, 

 Hakea leucoptera, grew profusely on the eminence, to which 

 we subsequently applied the name " Aster Ridge," on finding, 

 when endeavouring to obtain a snapshol at a Black-faced 

 Kangaroo, thai its western extremity was thickly overgrown 

 with Olearia (Aster) pimelioides. 



Descending the southern slope oi " Aster Ridge," we 

 emerged on to the dry bed of Lake Yelwell, and had not pro- 

 ceeded far when Johnny pointed out the playing-ground <>i 

 the spotted Bower-Bird. The bower was so constructed that 

 its longer axis trended north and south, and was protected 

 from wandering stock by the drooping limbs oi a Black Box 

 tree. At the northern exit the birds had placed a number of 

 pieces oi blue and white -lass, a [2-gauge cartridge shell. 

 numerous limestone pebbles, the bleached excreta of a dingo, 

 a large assortment oi mussel shells, and the ribs and vertebra 

 oi -keep and rabbits. Two other bowers weir subsequently 

 found similarly furnished. One was noted, in the vicinity oi 

 Kulkyne Station, surrounded by nearly a bushel oi broken 

 china oi infinite variety. Proceeding onward, between alter- 

 nating belts oi I tox and Red Gum timber, we al length 

 found ourselves amid towering growths of Tangled Lignum, 

 mosl oi which was invested by large, nebulous webs con tructed 

 by a spider belonging to the genus Araneus. The bickering 

 oi the Spur-winged Plover, the hoarse calls oi the Herons, and 

 the not unmusical note oi the Black Swans, that came floating 

 t,, ,,in ears, proclaimed that oui destination was near at hand, 

 and on a cending a slight sandy eminence the broad expanse oi 

 ■ Mournpoul, with it- wealth oi bird-life, lay before us. 

 \ ye rattled merrily along the northern shore, creating, as 



