NIGHT ON THE RIVER 77 



{Talegallus /uscirostris) * ; or a flock of Pale Crows 

 {Gymnocorax senex), which are curiously nocturnal in 

 their habits, would fly over the camp cawing like muflled 

 rooks. Lizards and frogs uttered all sorts of strange 

 cries and whistles, and the mournful unbirdlike note 

 of the Frogmouth {Podargus papuensis) was heard on 

 every side. 



Sometimes, even when there was no wind stirring, 

 you would hear at night a noise like thunder as some 

 great tree went crashing down. Most of the trees in 

 the jungle do not attain a very great girth, but they 

 grow up very rapidly to reach the light and in their 

 upper branches there is soon accumulated a dense mass 

 of climbers and parasitic plants, which in the course 

 of time become too heavy for the tree and cause it 

 to collapse. The floor of the jungle is strewn with the 

 limbs and trunks of fallen trees and the smell of rotting 

 w^ood is everywiiere. 



The last, usually the fifth, day of the journey up 

 the river was always pleasant, partly because one knew 

 that there were only a few more hours of the tedious 

 voyage, and partly because the scenery was beginning 

 to change. Beautiful Tree-ferns appeared upon the 

 banks and the soil, firmer than in the swampy lands 

 near the coast, supported trees of finer growth. Scattered 

 pebbles and then banks of clean sand and shingle began 



* Like the Megapodes the Brush Turkeys are most interesting 

 birds, which have the habit of making large mounds of rubbish in 

 which they place their eggs, where they are hatched by the heat of 

 fermentation. This species is about the size of a domestic hen, and 

 its large brown egg is very good eating. 



