94 A RAMBLE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA 



destruction by means of the gun and trap, and both fauna 

 and flora are generally greatly modified, and in some 

 degree changed, when tillage breaks up the forest covert 

 and the open plain. The numbers of wild animals and 

 birds are always much reduced, and some species exter- 

 minated. Perhaps the flora suffers even more than the 

 fauna when a new land is brought under cultivation. 



The distance by road from Adelaide to Burra-Burra is 

 about a hundred and ten miles, and in that space I passed 

 through several districts in which I rode miles without 

 seeing more than a few scattered birds. Formerly this 

 tract of country swarmed with black swans and other 

 water fowl, including the beautiful french-grey heron 

 known as the native companion. Three times did I ride 

 between Burra and Adelaide without seeing a single heron. 

 Once or twice I saw small flocks of swans flying at a great 

 height towards Spencer's Gulf, where, in days past, they 

 assembled in thousands. These birds must have been 

 journeying from some distant feeding-ground, for it is a 

 very unusual circumstance for swans to fly high. Ducks 

 are plentiful on rivers and water-holes which are not too 

 near a human dwelling ; but they are wild and difficult to 

 approach, and have learned to fear the gun. The report 

 of a firearm is sufficient to send all those within the radius 

 of a mile flying to some distant retreat, and the wild-fowler 

 seldom gets a second shot at the same spot. 



The European sparrow has established itself in the 

 Burra district, and I noticed it at several other places on 

 the road from Adelaide, where also it is as common as in 

 an English town ; but whether it has found its way up 

 from the capital city, or has been taken thither by the 

 amateur acclimatiser, I could not discover. There it is, 

 however, as pert, saucy, and as much at home as I perceive 

 it to be in the city of London. Used to the bird as I 

 have been from the days of my boyhood, I have always 

 looked upon it as an Australian native, and have scarcely, 

 until recent years, been able to understand the surprise 

 that many emigrants to Australia evince at finding it so 

 firmly established in the new land. Though most emigrants 



