28 O'Donohue, Wanderings on the Murray Flood-Plain, [ V . M 



Vict. Nat. 

 XXXII. 



their former presence. The trees whence they stripped the 

 bark for their canoes and wurleys have grown taller and 

 bulkier, and have done much to erase the scars inflicted by 

 the rude stone axes of those to whom their leafy crowns 

 afforded shelter and their piped stems retreats for the phalangers 

 upon which they preyed. As the wind sweeps the material 

 of the dunes before it in long, irregular ripples, and erodes 

 deeper and more extensively into that which years ago it had 

 accumulated, it discloses mute evidence of the former dusky 

 inhabitants of the lakeside. Here and there one finds the 

 site of their camp-fire, the charcoal mingled with the shells 

 and bones of the creatures upon which they subsisted, and 

 among these are to be found rude stone axe-heads, skinning 

 flints, and pounding and sharpening stones. But more often 

 it is a little pile of human bones that is encountered- all that 

 remains, probably, of a warrior once proud of his skill in the 

 chase, feared by his foes and respected by his associates. 



If the eye during the day fails to realize the importance of 

 Mournpoul as a factor in the welfare of our fauna and avi- 

 fauna, particularly during a dry season, such as is now being 

 experienced there, as in other parts of the State, the ear, aftei 

 nightfall, is certainly impressed with the volume oi sound 

 arising from the many varieties of birds that have been com- 

 pelled to resort to the lake for sustenance As the mirrored 

 shadows of the trees on the distanl southern shore gradually 

 merge into indistinctness, the calls oi the waterfowl increase 

 in volume. The musical note of the Black Swan, Chenopis 

 atrata, resounds from every pari '.I the lake, and, as large 

 flocks of these birds are then continually changing their feeding- 

 grounds, the beal oi then broad-webbed feel on the surface 

 of the water as they take wing resembles nothing so much .is 

 a numbei oi motor-bikes a1 lull speed. The harsh call oi the 

 Heron, the wailing cry oi the Curlew, the bickering call oi the 

 Plover, the low and modulated note oi the Black Duck, the 

 rollicking, laugh-like note oi the Teal. Nettion castaneum, and 

 the plaintive peep oi the Dabchicks as they pass in scattered 

 but unseen procession through the Vallisneria and Curly Pond 

 Weed nol many yards distant from one's place oi vantage, 

 all croud on the ear in a bewildering medlej "l sound. Over- 

 head th< whistle of the pniion. oi unseen flights oi Black Duck. 

 . and Widgeon, Nyroca australis, arriving from the billa- 

 bongs '-'in- like a gale oi wind among the toes, and as these 

 birds pitch in singles, in pairs, and in companies amid the 

 be watei foams and pul lati as ii undei 

 the influence oi a gentle breeze. Bui when darkness has 

 completely shrouded the scene, and the birds have resorted to 

 their usual feeding-grounds, the lake becomes comparatively 



