THROUGH THE BIG SWAMPS 115 



With one of Macgregor's sons as guide, I spent 

 a day rambling around Lake Boga. We visited some 

 sand dunes a few miles from the township, where 

 Bee-eaters [Merops ornatus] had nesting burrows. 

 The birds, whose plumage is of many colours, 

 brownish-green, orange-brown, blue, black and orange, 

 were on guard. Every few moments one would leave 

 its perch, a stem of a bush, and skim through the air, 

 resembling, I thought, a flake from a rainbow. Bee- 

 eaters, certainly, are insectivorous, but, despite their 

 popular name, it is doubtful whether they destroy 

 many bees. 



In the low cliffs fronting the lake White-backed 

 Swallows [Cheramceca leucosternum] were nesting. 

 The colony was not large, perhaps thirty pairs of 

 birds in all. A burrow examined was about two 

 inches in diameter and two feet in length, the tunnel 

 widening at the end into a little cave, with a carpet 

 of dried grass, on which rested four white eggs, a 

 dainty sight. I was peering into another burrow, 

 when a Swallow darted out, brushing my face with 

 its wings. Many of the birds were flitting around 

 the cliff, while others skimmed over the lake, their 

 white backs flashing in the sunlight. 



Near the Swallow cliffs we paused to watch a 

 Murray Tortoise [E my dura macquarise] scraping a 

 hole in the sand for its eggs. The lake was well 

 stocked with these quaint little animals. I suppose 

 that we saw, at least, two hundred in the course of 

 an hour. They were congregated near the shore, 

 where the water was shallow and warm. My com- 

 panion, with unerring eyes, followed tracks which I 

 scarce could see, and located several nests. One, 

 fifty yards from the water, in dry soil, contained fifteen 

 soft-shelled white eggs ; another, in sand at the base of 

 the cliff, held a baker's dozen. Schoolboys, I was 

 told, sometimes gather Tortoise eggs in large num- 

 bers and pelt each other with them. 



