The South Australian Naturalist. 45 



The fish frolicked in the water, and in every direction there wSvS 

 floi)i)ing and sjilashijigr as they jumped through the surface of 

 the water. The waterfowl came out of the reeds, and were 

 about looking for the early worm, while a school of Avild duck 

 swam around some distance away. On the opposite bank of 

 the river thre^ shags were lifting up their gruff voices, hagglino- 

 at each other. 



While I sat watching and listening to the music of the 

 wilds, a louder splash than usual drew my attention, and, turn- 

 ing, I saw a grey bird (which I afterAvards learned was a 

 "tern") rising from the water, carrying a small fish. I watched 

 him as he continued on his way dovrn the river, flying fairly 

 liigh, and without any warning he dropped with a terrific splash 

 into the water, only to rise again and continue on his way. 

 Several of these birds were noted. 



Looking down near the edge, I could see numerous small 

 silvery fish darting about, and invariably swimming upstream. 

 These small atherines are carnivorous, and I threw in a small 

 bait. They darted to it with a smart, sprightly movement from 

 all directions, and I savr the gleam of silver in the morning 

 light as they turned in the water. One movement of my foot, 

 and they were gone, but others sooii found the morsel, which 

 very soon disappeared. 



I sat there for three hours, and began to feel that it was 

 time to look after the inner man. On my way up the cliff I 

 saw that a colony of fairy martins' bottle-shaped mud nests had 

 been broken down and destroyed. I concluded that schoolboys 

 had wrought this havoc, but a naturalist friend of mine — a bird 

 man — assured me that such was not the case, as sparrows make 

 raids on these picturescpie little nests and do the damage. 



During the days T varied my movements. Sometimes I 

 would be found on the river; at others watching the fruit- 

 })ickers in the orchards near by : or helping at the drying trays. 

 I had not been here more than a day or two when beetles- and 

 other insects were brought to me by those in the orchards who 

 happened u])on them during my stay. I had more large malice 

 longicorns (L. Cnemophlites, Blackmani) brought me during 

 those few days than I had collected in all my life. These large 

 brown beetles seemed to be fairly plentiful there at the time, 

 and one could find them in the irrigating channels, where they 

 had fallen and drowned. 



Following along one of these channels one morning, I 

 noticed several small fish SAvimming about, and as the Avater 

 was drained off' they were left struggling in the mud. I 

 rescued tAvo babv cod about three inches in length, and started 



