AUSTRALIA 145 
toria or New South Wales owing to rigid protection laws, so after 
a few weeks’ collecting on the mainland I went over to Tasmania, 
where the authorities were wholly sympathetic. 
I took with me the few birds I had collected including honey- 
eaters, an Australian Bee-eater, and magpie-larks. The latter are 
black-and-white birds with lark-like habits, though related to the 
shrikes. Their local name of mud-lark is in allusion to their habit 
of building mud nests which are placed on the fork of a branch. 
At the small zoo in Hobart there was a specimen of the thylacine 
or Tasmanian Wolf. It was particularly interesting to see a live 
specimen of this marsupial wolf as it was probably the last of its 
kind to be on exhibition. It was then extinct over all the settled 
areas of Tasmania, where it had been annihilated through being a 
menace to sheep and poultry, but its existence in the wild unin- 
habited country of the southwest was considered a probability. 
More recently, after the last World War, expeditions have set 
out to find the thylacine but without success. However, although 
none were actually seen, it is considered certain that it does still 
exist because unmistakable tracks were found. As it is found on the 
mainland of Australia only in fossil form, it will be tragic if this 
unique creature disappears from its last stronghold. 
The base of the thylacine’s tail is greatly thickened and so seems 
to merge into the body. This appendage is also very rigid com- 
pared with that of most mammals and is never wagged. Its rather 
unhappy disposition is enhanced by the fact that it never gives 
vent to its feelings, and in fact appears to be as silent as the giraffe. 
The mammals of Australia are of great interest as they are nearly 
all island forms belonging to families peculiar to the region. It 1s 
indeed strange that this part of the world should have produced 
so many marsupials. Unfortunately the great majority, with the 
exception of the kangaroos and wallabies, are nocturnal in their 
habits, and therefore do not make ideal exhibits for zoos. 
By far the most extraordinary of the Australasian fauna are the 
two egg-laying mammals—the echidna, or Spiny Ant-eater, and 
the platypus—and both occur in Tasmania. 
The platypus is quite common in the Tasmanian lakes, where 
it lives in burrows, the exits of which are usually near the water- 
