THE MALLEE COUNTRY 101 



Paddling quietly up the creek, we saw many 

 charming pictures of wild bird life. The peace of this 

 stream is rarely troubled by man, and the birds were 

 nesting in safety. On the banks, thousands of White 

 Cockatoos [Cacatua galerita] were feeding, and occa- 

 sionally, as our boat glided past a tall tree, a pair flew 

 screeching overhead. The Cockatoos' nests were in 

 hollows, from fifty to ninety feet above the water, and 

 the fledglings were safe from all enemies except 

 Monitor Lizards ("Goannas") and snakes. 



When the "flattie" shot into the lake, which was 

 studded with dead gum trees and clumps of Lignum, 

 there was a sound of whirring wings, and in a 

 moment the air was thronged with wildfowl. Coots 

 darted into the Lignum, Black-tailed Native Hens 

 rushed, with pattering feet, over the surface of the 

 water, and Grebes slipped from their nests and dived. 

 Our first discovery was the nest, in a hollow stump, 

 of a pair of Pink-eared Ducks. The birds were 

 quietly swimming over one hundred yards from the 

 stump; their secret was betrayed by a gray feather 

 caught on a splinter of bark. Later, other nests of 

 the species were found, all being in hollows, with the 

 eggs buried in down. 



Nests of the Coot and the Black-tailed Native 

 Hen were hidden in the Lignum, and the nursery of 

 a pair of Black Swans, containing six large greenish- 

 coloured eggs, was seen beneath the branches of a 

 gum tree near the middle of the lake. Grebes were 

 diving all around us, and nests of the Hoary-headed 

 species [Podiceps poliocephalus'] were discovered, 

 moored to Lignum stems. After a long search, we 

 also found a nest of the Crested Grebe [Podiceps aus- 

 tmlis], containing four eggs. Before leaving their 

 nests, the Grebes scattered water weeds over the eggs. 



A big gum tree, about fifty yards from the shore, 

 presented a spectacle of great interest. The branches 

 were laden with nests of the Pied Cormorant 



