146 KATTJEAL HISTOBY SKETCHES. 



species of Creeper, the one much larger than the other. 

 The large variety was rather a pretty bird, with a spot of 

 chestnut-red upon each cheek. In habits they much re- 

 sembled the British creeper ; but the absence of the long 

 thin bill peculiar to that bird, led me to consider them 

 as more closely allied to the Nuthatch than the real Tree 

 Creeper. 



There is no true Skylark indigenous to Australia, but 

 larks have been imported from England, and turned out 

 wild. It will be a cheering sound in the ear of that man 

 who has but lately left his English home, the clear shrill 

 note of the Skylark in this land, where no single bird has 

 any one long-continued song. And as cultivation in- 

 creases, the country will gradually become more adapted 

 to the habits of the lark. Nowhere are British cage- 

 birds more highly prized than in Australia, and the 

 simple carol of one of our commonest home songsters, 

 when heard in a foreign land, cannot fail to raise plea- 

 surable emotions even in the rudest and most untutored 

 mind, for it speaks a language of youth and home fami- 

 liar to all. "We had a large species of lark on the plains, 

 something between the bunting and the real lark, which 

 we called the Mounting Lark. It was a very fine bold- 

 looking bird, much larger than the common bunting, 

 with the long powerful legs and claws peculiar to that 

 bird ; but the beak was large, and in shape resembled that 

 of the lark. It was of a dark-brown colour, with black 

 cheeks and breast, frequented the dry open plains, would 

 run along the ground, rise high in air, drop and rise 



