IS351 ORN1THORHYNCHUS. 3*1 



resided here. The sunset of a fine day will generally cast an air of 

 happy contentment on any scene ; but here, at this retired farmhouse, 

 the brightest tints on the surrounding woods could not make me forget 

 that forty hardened, profligate men were ceasing from their daily 

 labours, like the slaves from Africa, yet without their holy claim for 

 compassion. 



Early on the next morning, Mr. Archer, the joint superintendent, had 

 the kindness to take me out kangaroo-hunting. We continued riding 

 the greater part of the day, but had very bad sport, not seeing a 

 kangaroo, or even a wild dog. The greyhounds pursued a kangaroo 

 rat into a hollow tree, out of which we- dragged it; it is an animal as 

 large as a rabbit, but with the figure of a kangaroo. A few years since 

 this country abounded with wild animals ; but now the emu is banished 

 to a long distance, and the kangaroo is become scarce ; to both the 

 English greyhound has been highly destructive. It may be long before 

 these animals are altogether exterminated, but their doom is fixed. 

 The aborigines are always anxious to borrow the dogs from the farm- 

 houses ; the use of them, the offal when an animal is killed, and some 

 milk from the cows, are the peace-offerings of the settlers, who push 

 farther and farther towards the interior. The thoughtless aboriginal, 

 blinded by these trifling advantages, is delighted at the approach of 

 the white man, who seems predestined to inherit the country of his 

 children. 



Although having poor sport, we enjoyed a pleasant ride. The wood- 

 land is generally so open that a person on horseback can gallop through 

 it. It is traversed by a few flat-bottomed valleys, which are green and 

 free from trees ; in such spots the scenery was pretty like that of a 

 park. In the whole country 1 scarcely saw a place without the marks 

 of a fire ; whether these had been more or less recent whether the 

 stumps were more or less black, was the greatest change which varied 

 the uniformity, so wearisome to the traveller's eye. In these woods 

 there are not many birds; I saw, however, some large flocks of the 

 white cockatoo feeding in a corn-field, and a few most beautiful parrots ; 

 crows like our jackdaws were not uncommon, and another bird some- 

 thing like the magpie. In the dusk of the evening I took a stroll along 

 a chain of ponds, which in this dry country represented the course of 

 river, and had the good fortune to see several of the famous Orr.ith .<- 

 rhynchus paradoxus. They were diving and playing about the surface 

 of the water, but showed so little of their bodies, that they might easily 

 have been mistaken for water-rats. Mr. Browne shot one ; certainly it 

 is a most extraordinary animal ; a stuffed specimen does not at all give 

 a good idea of the appearance of the head and beak when fresh ; the 

 latter becoming hard and contracted.* 



* I was interested by finding here the hollow conical pitfall of the lion- 

 ant, or some other insect : first a fly fell down the treacherous slope and 

 immediately disappeared ; then came a large but unwary ant ; its struggles 

 to escape being very violent, those curious little jets of sand, described by 

 Kirby and Spence ("Entomol.," vol. i., p. 425) as being flirted by the insect's 

 tail, were promptly directed against the expected victim. But the ant en- 



