322 FLIGHTS OF BIRDS INDICATIVE OF WATER. 



the sagacious hunter was too thoroughly skilled in 

 the signs of the wilderness, to be taken in by such 

 alarmist rumours, and insisted on continuing his march, 

 and on riding in the direction from whence the return- 

 ing flights had come, he soon found a pool of excellent 

 water, sufficient for all his wants. * This anecdote 

 speaks volumes as to the high importance of travellers 

 through wild countries observing the habits and charac- 

 teristics of the birds and animals, and becoming close 

 students of Natural History. Nor is careful observation 

 of the vegetable productions of a district one whit 

 less important, for they too furnish irrefragable evidence 

 as to the climate, the nature of the soil, and the whole 

 character of the country generally. 



In Australia, for instance, there are certain sorts of 

 grasses that are never found except in waterless districts ; 

 of these the prickly Spinifex (Triodia Irritans) 

 is a good example; the early explorers all remarked 

 that wherever much of this grass was found growing, 

 the district was sure to be dry, and often wholly 

 bereft of water. Other herbs indicate that the soil is 

 salinous, and that water, should it exist, is salt or 

 brackish, and so on: we might write quite a chapter 

 upon such matters only, f 



It is also a most remarkable, but still a certain fact, that 

 vast herds of game, as a rule, are found only in regions 

 possessed of a scanty vegetation, such as we have 

 been here describing; and that the great game countries 



* See Five Years of a Hunter's Life in the Far Interior of 

 South Africa (1843 to 1848), by Roualeyn Gordon Gumming of Altyre, 

 2nd Edit. 1850, pp. 288 to 290. 



y See among other evidence the Journal of Colonel Warburton, 

 the Australian Explorer, pp. 156 7; also Stanford's Compendhtm of 

 Geography and Travel for Australia, edited by Alfred R. Wallace, 

 1879, P- 21. 



