36 The South Australian Naturalist. 



Two leeturc evenings and fonr excursions had been arranged 

 for March and Ajn-il. Mr. E. C. Andrews, B.A., F.G.8., lec- 

 liired on "The South Sea Islands/' and Dr. MacGillivray on 

 "Sea Birds." 



A Trip to the Bunya Bunya Mountains, Queensland. — Cap- 

 tain White lectured on this subject to a large and appreciative 

 audience in the Lecture Room, Institute Building, North Ter- 

 race, on Tuesday evening, April 20. The excursion was 

 arranged by the Royal Australian Ornithological I.^nion, and 

 40 members from various States attended. At one of Brisbane's 

 reservoirs a bird was observed running over the water-lily 

 leaves on which it builds its nest. Stradbrook Island, which 

 lies opposite the coast by Brisbane, was also visited. Orchids, 

 screw pines and grass trees formed a section of the native 

 vegetation, while the indigenous birds seen were fruit pigeons 

 and sanguineous honey-eaters. A journey of 180 miles brought 

 the party to the Bunya Mountains. The climb to the top of the 

 mountain is very steep, so much so that only pack horses could 

 be used for conveying all the camping outfit. Most of the 

 members walked the whole distance ; the rough, shingly nature 

 of the ground made this a very tedious and tiring journey. The 

 country was remarkable for the alternate belts of dry, open 

 eucalyptus formations and the tropical sections. The tropi(;al 

 belts were very dense and were alive wdth native birds of all 

 sorts. The Bunya Pine, Araucaria Bidwilli (from which the 

 mountains get their name), grows to 150 feet high, and to^vering 

 high above the other trees give the hills a wonderful effect of 

 scenic beauty. The branches are almost horizontal and the 

 cones grow to about 10 inches in diameter. Long ago the 

 natives made annual trips to these mountains from long dis- 

 tances (some of them) to enjoy their yearly feast of bunya nut 

 and to hold a round of corroborees. The natives would climb 

 the trees by cutting out notches in the trunks, and large trees 

 were seen with evidences of the aboriginals" ingenuity with 

 their stone axes. Among the most interesting notes made by 

 the lecturer were those referring to the rifle bird, v\iiich is one 

 of the most vronderful and beautiful of the birds of paradise. 

 He described the beautiful colours which the bird would parade. 

 After a period of so strutting about he (for this is the male 

 bird exhibiting^ his fine feathers, presumably in the hope of 

 attracting and captivating a vriie) would fly on to a horizontal 

 branch and there go through various splendid antics, again 

 displaying his briliiant plumage. Dancing, side-stepping r,nd 

 rustling his wings were his main attractions apart from the 

 colour scheme. The rustling of vrings, which was done at vrill, 

 produced a sound as of rustling silk. When the bird flies the 



