6o HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



wood. Then, like the alligator, a sudden impulse 

 possesses it : it starts to life, mounts with a spring 

 into the air, and is transformed. The under-plumage 

 of the wings and body is a brilliant white. The flight 

 of the buggolah is not long nor particularly graceful, 

 but while it lasts the bird, with its pure white plumage, 

 is really a pretty object. But soon it alights, and be- 

 comes again a dull grey wooden statue. 



In justice to the buggolah, I must, however, admit 

 that very few, if any, of our resident river birds are 

 gaily coloured ; but we occasionally have from the 

 east some very gorgeous visitors. A short time since 

 a party of six flamingoes made their appearance one 

 morning on the sands. They remained for two days, 

 moving about with extreme stateliness. Their scarlet 

 crests and wing feathers quite illumined the river-bed. 



This afternoon as I sit on the terrace the only colour 

 that relieves the monotonous expanse of sand is that 

 afforded by the melon beds, and this is diminishing. 

 The leaves have lost something of their first cool 

 freshness, and a good deal of the fruit has been 

 gathered ; still enough remains to make a pretty display. 

 It is only the yellow melons that catch the eye here 

 from the terrace ; the green varieties too much resemble 

 the leaves in tint to be distinguishable. 



Gay and bright as the yellow melons appear among 

 the green leaves at this distance, their colouring when 

 seen near is far inferior in beauty to that of some of 

 the green varieties, and of these for variety and loveli- 

 ness of tints and harmony of blending the palm must 

 be certainly assigned to the water-melon. It is, perhaps, 



