CHAPTER II 



BEGINNING AS A COLLECTOR 



I HAVE never regretted that first year I spent in 

 Australia on cattle and sheep stations, tramping the 

 bush, kangaroo-shooting. It was a jolly, irresponsible 

 time, full of adventure and excitement; and it 

 hardened me off finely for the sterner work that 

 was ahead. 



Mr. W. B. Barnard, a son of my friend, joined 

 forces with me for the first expedition which I made 

 purely for purposes of collecting. We went to Rock- 

 hampton, bought an outfit and then took a camp 

 up in the ranges near Coomooboolaroo, staying there 

 for three months. For the first time I had a regular 

 collecting outfit, insect boxes, and arsenic for skins. 

 Nowadays I do not trouble to use arsenic for pre- 

 serving skins, but rely on alum, and on the use of 

 plenty of naphthaline in packing up the skins. On 

 this expedition we were out after all kinds of speci- 

 mens mammals, birds, and insects. I had secured 

 through my father an order from the Hon. Walter 

 Rothschild for three pairs of every kind of animal, 

 whether mammal, bird, or insect that we collected. 

 I had been collecting in a desultory kind of way 



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