32 O'Donohue, Wanderings on the Murray Flood-Plain. [voMcxxii 



area oi -hallow water that still existed, at least 3,000 Black 

 Duck. Teal, and Widgeon were assembled, in company with 

 innumerable Black Swans, Pelicans. Ihises. Herons. Maned 

 Geese, Grebes, Cormorants, &c. When this concourse of wild- 

 fowl was induced to take wing the roar of their pinions and 

 kaleidoscopic movement may be better imagined than described. 

 Here, as elsewhere, it was noted that the stately Pelican was 

 deemed to be the [shmael of the aquatic tribe, to be shot at 

 and destroyed by the sportsmen of the district when an oppor- 

 tunity presented. 



Alter spending half an hour beside the lake-bed, in con- 

 templation of the birds on the water, or in viewing the 

 evolution of the Herons. Ibises, and Pelicans in the bine 

 vault above us, we made a traverse of about a mile due west, 

 and then bore northwards towards our cam]). This procedure 

 brought us into a different class of country than any we had 

 previously encountered. The monotonous, dry, and fissured 

 lake-beds, destitute <>t aughl green (if we omit occasional meagre 

 spe< imens >t the Small-leaved Swainsona, S. microphylla, and 

 the Mallow ot Nice, Malva niccensis), gave place to a dense 

 growth ot Swamp Saw-Sedge, Lepidosperma lorigitudinale, 

 .inn >ng which vast numbers of sturdy Red ( ium and Red Pox trees 

 tlourished. Between these grew the Narrow-leaved Bottle- 

 brush, Callistemon linearis, the Prickly Bottle-brush, Cailistemon 

 brachyandrus, and the Showy Honey Myrtle. Melaleuca 

 acuminata, ofttimes with the Small-leaved Clematis. ('. micro- 

 phylla, sprawling over them. Birds of many varieties, the 

 Nankeen Night-Heron, Nycticorax caledonicus, among others, 

 were noted hereabout s. and also a number ol kangaroos. On 



emerging from the timber on to the sand-dunes we beheld the 

 unusual sighl oi a Hock ot forty Emus. The birds, however, 

 were exceedingly timid, and raced off long before we were 

 within photo, range oi them. 



(lose to Moiunpoul a splendid and shapely tree of the 

 Weeping Pittosporum, Pittosporum phillyrceoides, and two 

 sturdy specimens "I Acacia salicina, jusl bursting into bloom, 

 were met with. Beneath the larger ol the two Willow Acacias 

 the presence ol a Sleeping 01 Rugged Stump-tailed Lizard, 

 /, ichysaurus rugosus, was revealed to us by the behaviour and 

 incessanl scolding ot a Black-and-White Fantail. Another of 

 these sluggish creatures was encountered subsequently among 

 ,1 growth oi False Spinifex, Triodia irritans, amid the mallee. 

 I'll,, it- were made to ion-.- it in some semblance ol vitality, 

 Put without success, 'ill. in a tiled wa\. n took Hie proffered 

 cork oi a bottle oi diluted formalin in it-, mouth. The amount 

 oi energy 'In- simple device generated in the lizard was a 

 revelation. We hail pitched our tent beneath the spreading 

 branches ol a Black Box growing on the margin ot a Lake-bed. 



