f iq"*'l O'DoNOHUEj Wanderings on the Murray Flood-Plain. 29 



quiet. It is then when one makes a motion to withdraw from 

 the water's edge that a startled movement by his side pro- 

 claims the presence of some unsuspected rabbit, 'possum, or 

 emu. Before dawn the exodus of birds began, and, as our 

 tent was pitched directly in a course favoured by most of the 

 waterfowl proceeding northwards, we often lay in our bunks 

 and listened to the whistle of pinions and startled cries as the 

 birds passed overhead on their way to some muddy puddle 

 in Chalka Creek, where that safety denied them on the lake 

 was assured. 



A noticeable feature of the flood-plain of the Murray — at 

 least, in that portion adjacent to Mournpoul — is the large 

 number of bleached carapaces of the River Tortoise, Chelodina 

 longicollis, that are to be discerned on the sand-dunes and in 

 the dry lake-beds and billabongs. They present every 

 graduation in size, and are found in every stage of decay. One 

 is at first disposed to connect their presence with the inundation 

 of the areas on which their remains are most extensively found, 

 and their demise to the sudden recession of the water. The 

 facts, however, would seem to be as follow : — When the river 

 rises and floods the low- lying country along its course, the 

 turtles quit the main channel, range far inland, and remain 

 behind, after the recession of the flood, in the billabongs and 

 lake areas. These, in the course of time, gradually become 

 desiccated, thereby necessitating the turtles seeking more 

 advantageous environment. Selecting an occasion when a 

 breeze blows off the river, or off any large area of water, they 

 instinctively set out in its direction. Provided the breeze 

 maintains its permanence, they experience no difficulty in 

 shaping a more or less direct course, and ultimately reaching 

 their objective. But if, as occasionally happens, the breeze 

 fails, or veers around, they wander about in acute distress till 

 overtaken by death. On such occasions they may be seen 

 moving slowly and aimlessly along amid the timber or across 

 the sand-dunes with blood oozing from the carapace and 

 trickling down their legs, which have been worn raw by friction 

 against the sides ol the shell. In this helpless condition they are 

 often attacked by crows and hawks. 



Shortly after our arrival at Mournpoul we visited an area 

 of Red Gum timber margining the north-western extension of 

 Lake Yerang. In every tree Pardalotes, Pardalotus affinis, 

 and Tree-Martins, Petrockelidon nigricans, were contending for 

 the possession oi some fancied hollow in a limb for nesting 

 purposes, whilst Wood-Swallows, A flaunts sordidus, were in- 

 vestigating the larger forks, presumably for a similar purpose. 

 Here our attention was early attracted by the actions of a 

 pair ot Restless Flycatchers, Seisura inquieta, which, whilst 



