470 NEW SOUTH WALES 



country I 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 {&\n most beautiful parrots ; crows like our 

 jackdaws were not uncommon, and another bird something 

 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 a river, and had the good fortune to see several 

 of the famous Ornithorhynchus 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.^ 



20t]i. — A long day's ride to Bathurst. Before joining the 

 high road we followed a mere path through the forest ; and 

 the country, with the exception of a few squatters' huts, was 

 very solitary. We experienced this day the sirocco-like wind 

 of Australia, which comes from the parched deserts of the 

 interior. Clouds of dust were travelling in every direction ; 

 and the wind felt as if it had passed over a fire. I afterwards 

 heard that the thermometer out of doors had stood at i 1 9°, 

 and in a closed room at 96°. In the afternoon we came in 

 view of the downs of Bathurst. These undulating but nearly 

 smooth plains are very remarkable in this country, from being 

 absolutely destitute of trees. They support only a thin brown 

 pasture. We rode some miles over this country, and then 

 reached the township of Bathurst, seated in the middle of what 

 may be called either a very broad valley, or narrow plain. I 

 was told at Sydney not to form too bad an opinion of 



^ 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 {EutoinoL 

 vol. i. p. 425) as being flirted by the insect's tail, were promptly directed against 

 the expected victim. But the ant enjoyed a better fate tlian the fly, and escaped 

 the fatal jaws which lay concealed at the base of the conical hollow. This Australian 

 pitfall was only about half the size of that made by the European lion-ant. 



