Vol. XIII. 



1913 



j White, Field Ornithology in South Australia. IQ 



lohulata) was a mass of scarlet seed-pods, showing up in vivid 

 contrast amongst the silvery seed-heads of the spinifex. On 

 the plain we drove over acres of glorious " Sturt pea " {Clianthus 

 Dampieri). This beautiful plant, when in full bloom, is beyond 

 description. Amidst such scenes of beauty we moved on day 

 after day, ever adding to our ornithological and botanical collec- 



Blue-bush {Kochia scdifolia). 



FROM A PHOTO, BY S. A. WHITE. 



tions and notes. Winding and twisting amidst the picturesque 

 hills, we were still going west. When crossing a spur and looking 

 down the valley it appeared like a mass of gold, owing to the 

 beautiful shrub, botanically named Cassia artemisioides, which 

 flowers so profusely as to hide the foliage. The scent from these 

 lovely bushes is the sweetest of all the flowers. Cattle are very 

 fond of this shrub, and anywhere near a station the bushes are 

 exterminated, and rabbits are helping to wipe it out, like many 

 others, by their deadly barking process. Another shru^b which 

 came under our notice growing on these salt-bush plains, and 

 which made good beds by cutting the tops off and piling one upon 

 the other, was the kangaroo-bush [Pholidia stoparia). It bears 

 a little, delicate, puce, bell-shaped flower, and seemed to afford 

 much food for the honey-eating birds. 



One morning, while exploring the summit of a high ridge, we 

 caught sight of Lake Gairdner for the first time. The bright 

 morning sun was glinting on the salt-encrusted shores. It bore 

 N.N.W. Again we struck a dry belt of country, where no rain 



