CHAPTER VII. 

 WHERE THE PELICAN BUILDS 



IN camp on Eyre's Peninsula I became acquainted 

 with a South Australian ornithologist, whose 

 descriptions of the Coorong and its wild life 

 made me long to visit that strange lake. Nearly two 

 years elapsed before an opportunity came. In June, 

 1911, my doctor advised a holiday in the Southern 

 State, and I went to Adelaide. After three days in 

 the city and as many weeks at Mount Lofty, I wearied 

 of the "rest cure." Leisurely rambles through the 

 hills in the season of mists were pleasant enough, but 

 birds were scarce, and I am never long content without 

 the music of wild wings. Where to seek it was the 

 problem. I remembered the Coorong, and decided to 

 go there, trusting to luck. 



Coorong Lake is really an arm of the sea, opening 

 in the south-east part of Lake Alexandrina, and 

 running parallel with the coast in a south-easterly 

 direction for many miles. A rough road skirts one 

 shore, and the coastwise bank is formed of huge sand 

 dunes. The maximum width of the Coorong is about 

 two miles. In stormy weather the lake becomes 

 almost as perilous as the sea for small craft, and more 

 than one has been lost there. In no place very deep, 

 the water becomes shallow towards the upper reaches, 

 and the lake ends among swamps. 



Accompanied by my wife, I travelled by train 

 from Adelaide to Milang, a township on Lake Alexan- 

 drina. Near the jetty there are reed beds, and at 

 low tide acres of slimy black mud are exposed to the 

 sun. These desolate flats form an insubstantial 

 highway to the reeds. Several hours were devoted 



