CHAPTER VI. 

 EYRE'S PENINSULA 



U /~\ AMPING in the Desert" was the title originally 

 I proposed for this chapter ; but the dictionary 



^^ declares that a desert is "a waterless and 

 treeless region," and the southern portion of Eyre's 

 Peninsula, South Australia, possesses both water and 

 trees. There are areas of barren land, it is true, and 

 desert plants, pioneers from the north, grow freely in 

 places ; but one must travel far from the coast to reach 

 the real desert, which is the highway to the "Dead 

 Heart of Australia." Large areas of the Peninsula 

 have been spoiled for the naturalist, farmers having 

 transformed the wilderness into wheatfields. 



It was in October, 1909, that the Australasian 

 Ornithologists' Union held a working camp out on 

 Eyre's Peninsula. The party numbered twenty-six, 

 including the cook, who was not the least important 

 member, as it proved. There were botanists and 

 entomologists, as well as bird students, and a rich 

 harvest of facts regarding the fauna and flora of the 

 region was gathered. One of the chief objects of the 

 expedition was to compile a list of birds, with a view 

 of ascertaining the extent to which southern and 

 western forms intermingle on the Peninsula; there is 

 no distinct line of division. No fewer than 103 

 species were identified, seventy-six land birds and 

 twenty-seven waders and swimmers. 



The main camp was formed at Warunda, in the 

 district of Wanilla, some twenty-eight miles from Port 

 Lincoln, and midway between the Koppio Range and 

 the Broom country. The site, selected by Captain 

 S. A. White, one of our leaders, was admirable, for 



