174 KATTTBAI/ niSTOET SKETCHES. 



home. The eye of the mature bird is transparent yellow 

 white. Once while walking along this beach, an im- 

 mense bird, as large as an albatross, flew by me. I could 

 not get a shot at it, and I never before or since saw so 

 large a sea-bird on these coasts. 



"We had two species of Cormorant, the large one more 

 like the shag than the cormorant at home ; but it had no 

 crest, and the colour was not bright. The smaller species, 

 which we called the diver, had a white breast, and fre- 

 quented creeks and inland lagoons, often very far away 

 from the sea-coast. 



The Curlew was at times common on our coasts, 

 generally in small flocks, but I never, in the breeding or 

 at any other season, met with them inland in our district. 

 Although there were many miles of barren moorlands in 

 the neighbourhood of the beach, they had not the cha- 

 racter of those wild moors on which I have seen this bird 

 breeding at home. The Australian curlew is very like 

 its European namesake. The call-note is exactly the 

 same. And when the sea was going down after a heavy 

 autumnal gale, which had driven the birds on shore, I 

 used to enjoy a walk by the sea-side ; for at such a time 

 the long melancholy wail of the curlew, the shrill cry of 

 the oyster-catcher, the loud hoarse bark of the large gull, 

 all blending with the wild whistle of the wind, and the 

 regular unbroken roll of the surf as it set in upon the 

 shingly beach, would strike the ear like rich and varied 

 music, although played upon nature's rudest and wildest 

 chords. 



