Voi.^xiil.j ^j^g j^^ygy Excursion-. HQ 



W. H. D. Le Souef, A. H. Chisholm, H. B. Slaney, Dr. E. Brooke 

 Nicholls, Dr. J. A. Leach and Mrs. Leach (Victoria). 



Having nothing very definite in view in the early stages of the 

 trip, the party sat back and enjoyed the " most glorious beauty 

 of the day" — the blue sky, the pretty shades of green created 

 by the sunlight slanting among the reeds and willows, the music 

 of the Reed-Warblers that made merry right along the miles of 

 reed-beds, and the striking wing-work of the wind-wrestling Tern 

 and majestic Pelican. 



The first " field work " was undertaken in the afternoon, when 

 the Mypolonga swamps were reached. While the leader and a 

 number of others boated up an attractive little creeklet and worked 

 among water-birds for an hour or so, the rest of the party 

 prospected on shore. At the present time the South Australian 

 Government is proceeding with the work of reclaiming these 

 swamp areas, and such contrasts in locomotion as bullock teams 

 and a miniature train were noted hard at work. It is a good 

 policy, this swamp reclamation, but one may express the hope 

 that the South Australian Government will see the wisdom of 

 reserving certain areas as breeding-grounds for the valuable 

 water-birds that at present abound. As a slight digression, the 

 Government may be offered a word of congratulation on the 

 prompt action it recently took to put a stop to the " potting- 

 shooting " at all kinds of birds that was being indulged in by a 

 " scarce-half-made-up " brand of " sportsman " on river 

 steamers ; and if a further digression will be pardoned by the 

 editors and the Premier of South Australia, it will do no harm 

 to draw the attention of the latter gentleman to the desirability 

 for moving in the matter of preserving valuable timber along the 

 river-banks. Perhaps, however, this matter is being held over 

 only till the States have satisfactorily adjusted their various ideas 

 concerning the locking of the river. 



While the evening meal was proceeding, the brisk little town 

 of Mannum (24 miles from Murray Bridge) was touched, and the 

 night-halt was made at a wood-siding 10 miles up. Some of the 

 party slept ashore (happy in the possession of stretchers), and 

 these received the full benefit of the dawn chorus contributed by 

 the frogs. Swans, Bitterns, and Laughing Jackasses. The notes of 

 none of these is particularly musical, and those who looked for the 

 burst of melody that usually greets the rising sun in the depths of 

 the bush had, perforce, to content themselves with admiring the 

 placid beauty of the river. These wood-sidings, it may be 

 remarked, are almost as much an institution on the Murray as 

 is the fishing industry, practically every river-sider keeping a 

 supply of wood for the steamers. 



A couple of hours' run after the 8 a.m. meal brought the party 

 to Schultze's Landing, where a halt was called till mid-day. The 

 country there was not particularly inviting, but there were some 

 good swamps on the right bank, and one of these accommodated 

 a magnificent flock of Pelicans. The easy majesty and careless 



