72 SEAFOWL SHOOTING SKETCHES. 



At 7 30 next morning: we had breakfast, and afterwards, whilst 

 Standring- went to inspect some woollen works, I cleaned both 

 the g-uns (double muzzle-loaders), and prepared for, as I fondly 

 imagined, a good day's sport. At 10 o'clock we set out, and soon 

 crossed the Barwon Creek Bridge, and after a five miles walk 

 over a dusty road we arrived at the Geelong Racecourse. 



Just previous to turning- off the road, we observed a small flock 

 of parrots settled in a tree. We cautiously crept up to the tree, 

 and then stood up expecting the parrots to fly. To our amaze- 

 ment they simply looked at us, and when we tried to alarm them 

 by making a noise it was all the same. There was nothing for it 

 but to shoot them sitting. I dropped two and my friend one 

 before they flew. One or two we left hanging by their claws to 

 the branches. 



Well, as I said before, we had arrived at the racecourse, where 

 the rabbits, we "nad been .assured, were positively swarming. 

 We did not see one ! There had been a flood a few days pre- 

 viously, and there was a thick deposit of mud all over the 

 place, which was very swampy and wild-looking, and we judged 

 the rabbits were drowned. My friend shot an Australian mag- 

 pie, which I finished for him with my revolvei. 



We saw plenty of water birds, but even there they were as 

 wild as at home, and we could not get any of them. We could 

 hear the frogs croaking all around us in the loud and peculiar 

 style Australian frogs adopt. Their noise was a positive 

 nuisance. It was strange to see the large bills posted on the 

 grand stand requesting pedestrians and equestrians to keep 

 clear of the course while the Duke of Edinburgh and suite were 

 upon it. We thought of the numbers of people who must have 

 been present, and all the life and gaiety in that solitary place 

 only a couple of months before. Now there was not a soul about 

 besides ourselves. 



We next went to the swamp and fired several shots, with vary- 

 ing success, at different species of birds. Setting out on our 

 return journey, we came across the tree where we had been 

 shooting in the forenoon. We discovered one or two parrots 

 lying dead at the foot of it, their grasp having relaxed. I shot 

 a few more parrots (green and Rosilla) in the same tree. Per- 

 haps there was something peculiar about tKat tree, for again 

 they sat there while we brought them to the ground like knocking 

 fruit down. 



As it was late in the afternoon, and we "could not see any pros- 

 pect of getting any rabbits, we started again, and eventually 

 arrived at the Bridge Hotel. We called in for our luggage and 

 then walked on to the station, just in time to see the train leave. 

 We sat down and counted our game. I had got ten parrots, one 



