70 BUSH DAYS 



had been driven south by the severe drought inland, and for 

 some months literally took possession of the town. Another 

 instance of a bird irruption was in the dry summers of 1895 

 and 1896, when the beautiful white-eyebrowed wood swallows, 

 or martins, came to the neighbourhood of Sydney. They came 

 in thousands, and for a few weeks the western suburbs 

 swarmed with them. They built everywhere and anywhere, 

 on trees, stumps, and even on the fences. For several summers 

 they came, then disappeared, and were seen no more till the 

 dry weather again drove them seawards. The drought of 1896 

 also drove to the coast some of the inland finches, including 

 the very rare painted finch, which had never before been re- 

 ported from Eastern Australia ; nor has it been seen here since. 



Most of the fruit-eating birds are nomadic in their habits, 

 and, as every orchardist knows to his cost, parrots follow up 

 the food supply, as do also leather-heads, and, to a certain 

 extent, the black magpies. All the honey-eaters are wanderers, 

 though sometimes the distance of their travelling may be very 

 short. Anyone who has a gum or coral tree in his garden will 

 notice that when they are in blossom dozens of honey-eaters 

 will appear as if by magic to feed amongst the flowers. 



Other birds which also move from place to place are the 

 robins. The familiar " yellow-bob " stays with us all the year 

 round, but the red-breasts, rose-breasts, and flame-breasts, 

 though seen in open country and round about the farm-houses 

 during the autumn and winter, disappear from sight in the 



