PREFACE 



It is always difficult to write a preface ; it is an art to 

 write a good one. There are peculiar difficulties in scoring 

 the overture to the present work, because it is only partially 

 mine. I am at liberty to say that it was because Mr Ward 

 did not feel sufficiently confident to write the book by 

 himself that he sought my aid. I hope I have done justice 

 to the mass of splendid material he has entrusted to me. 

 I can truly say I have handled it with a loving care that 

 has not been exceeded in the writing of any of my own 

 books. Before I undertook the task of collating Mr Ward's 

 notes, I stipulated that I should be permitted to treat the 

 book as my own. I regard it as a foster-child, but as 

 dear to me as any of my own literary offspring. 



Mr Ward is a Queensland stock-farmer, who, like 

 myself, has amused himself in the intervals of a roughly 

 laborious life with studying Nature in the wild, and prying 

 into the wonders of her works. I am forbidden, by the 

 position I have accepted, to say plainly what I think, or 

 what I feel, of his ability as a field naturalist ; but I must 

 say that his splendid powers of observation demanded 

 that I should exert myself to the utmost to deal worthily 

 with the material placed at my disposal. 



My task has been to reduce the notes to readable form, 

 collect the scattered information on specific subjects, and 

 identify and supply the scientific names of species, etc. 

 I have corrected some obvious mistakes ; but I have not 



