SINGULAR FLIGHT OF STRANGE BIRDS. 55 



warned in time, they chose some safer spot, from 

 whence, in future, they and their descendants may 

 safely contemplate the awful grandeur of similar 

 occurrences, and thankfully profit by the fertility 

 and abundance which succeed to such wholesale 

 irrigation. During this, our first visit, I had no 

 opportunity of penetrating into the country further 

 than the Darling range : in journeying thither, 

 we passed through Guilford, a township on the 

 banks of the Swan, about seven miles north-east from 

 Perth, and four from the foot of the mountains. It 

 stands upon a high part of the alluvial flat fringing 

 the river, and which extends from half to one mile 

 from it on either side. The rich quality of the soil 

 may be imagined from the fact, that, in 1843, after 

 thirteen years of successive cropping, it produced 

 a more abundant harvest than it had done at first, 

 without any artificial aid from manures. 



A singular flight of strange birds, was noticed at 

 Guilford about the year 1833, during the time when 

 the corn was green : they arrived in an innumerable 

 host, and were so tame as to be easily taken by 

 hand. In general appearance they resembled the 

 land-rail, but were larger, and quite as heavy on 

 the wing. They disappeared in the same myste- 

 rious manner as they arrived, and have never since 

 repeated their visit. Were these birds visitors from 

 the interior, or had they just arrived at the end 

 of a migratory journey from some distant country ? 

 It is to be regretted that no specimen of them was 



