102 The South Australian Naturalist. 



A HOLIDAY NOTE. 

 (By ''E.R.W.") 



In October last I spent a holiday in the extreme south- 

 east corner of the State and adjoining portion of Victoria, 

 namely, at the Glenelg River, Avhich is a Victorian stream, but 

 at one point enters South Australia. 



My main object in visiting this somewhat out-of-the-way 

 place was to study the coastal fishes which have not there been 

 investigated. Continued bad weather rendered netting, rock- 

 pool work, and other methods out of question, and I Avas driven 

 to occupy my time with land collecting. During a tramp I one 

 day found a nestling magpie in the wet grass ; it had evidently 

 been blown out of the nest, driven across the river and de- 

 posited where found, in ignorance of its possible fate of being 

 chilled to death by the coming night, of providing a meal for 

 the prowling cat, or a bonne bouche for the first fox chancing 

 that way. I picked up the little bird, took it to my abode for 

 the time being, and fed it, and there we may leave it for the 

 present. 



During the same jaunt I discovered a jew lizard hanging 

 from a rabbit fence ; it had climbed up for about eighteen 

 inches, put its head through a mesh, and, being unable to with- 

 draw it, was hanging very limply and apparently dead ; a little 

 investiiration suggested that life was still existent, so the lizard 

 was exti'icated and coaxed into some action; hunting for food 

 I found a small frog and a worm, and with these in its mouth, 

 the lizard wriggled under a log, and doubtless recovered from 

 its suspension of, no one knows how long, days, possibly. 



As the district abounds with small, flat limestones, lying 

 on the surface, I, by force of habit, began to look for snakes, 

 and discovered that half the stones concealed burrows, ap- 

 parently of lizards, a supposition found to be, in part, correct; 

 the lizard burrows have two openings; if a stone be suddenly 

 lifted a lizard may be surprised, when it promptly enters by 

 one of the holes, and generally, a moment later, the tip of its 

 snout appears at the other. Two species were found burrow- 

 ing in this manner, both skinks, namely Egernia whitei and 

 Lygosoma metallicum, the former recognisable by the small 

 white lobules seen at the ear opening. 



Occasionally other holes were found under stones or logs, 

 these had single openings, Avere of somewhat smaller size, and 

 were straight, as ascertained by probing. During this process 

 it became evident that at a depth of about ten inches there was 

 ' ' something doing ' ' below, so a bracken leaf was stripped and 



