LAUGHING JACKASS. 223 



seen upon the branch of a tree near a river, 

 looking so stupid, and nodding as if asleep, 

 was shot, and it was then found that this pecu- 

 liar manner proceeded from having swallowed a 

 small snake, which had got into the stomach, 

 throat, and bill, but had not yet accommoded 

 itself in the former cavity. 



It is not uncommon to see these birds fly up 

 with a long snake pending from their beak, the 

 bird holding the reptile by the neck, just behind 

 the head ; but as the snake hangs down without 

 motion, and appears dead, it is probable that the 

 bird destroys them upon the ground before it 

 conveys them into the tree. From these cir- 

 cumstances, although they may now and then 

 '' make away" with an egg, or recently hatched 

 chicken, by mistake for other food, yet there 

 ought to be a prohibition against their being in- 

 jured, as the vermin destroyed by them amply 

 repay such trifling losses. This is the first bird 

 heard in the morning, and the last (among the 

 day-birds) at night; it rises with the dawn, 

 when the woods re-echo with its gurgling laugh ; 

 at sunset they are again heard, and as that 

 glorious orb sinks in the westward, a last " good 

 night" is given in its peculiar tones to all with- 

 in hearing. 



At this farm, close to the Murrumbidgee river, 



