CHAPTER IV 



ORGANIC LIFE ON THE RIVERINE PLAINS 



I HAVE already said that animal life is never absent from 

 the deserts of the Riverine district. The giant kangaroo, 

 commonly called " the old man," has become very cautious, 

 and is only found now in sheltered spots remote from the 

 neighbourhood of the habitation of man. Wallaby are 

 numerous in many places ; they were formerly found every- 

 where in the district; and rabbits during the last few 

 decades have become a dangerous nuisance. " Dangerous " 

 may seem a strong word to use, but really the increase of 

 this troublesome rodent has become so great and persistent 

 that it is a question if it will not ultimately oust the sheep 

 from the district, and ruin many large squatters. Nothing 

 that has yet been done to diminish the number of rabbits 

 in this and other districts has been perceptibly successful, 

 and it looks as if we shall presently have to talk of 

 " billions " rather than " millions " of rabbits. But there 

 are districts which are infested in a greater degree than 

 the Riverine, and I shall have to return to this subject in 

 another chapter. 



Standing on the plains west of the Bogan in summer- 

 time and looking round, one sees nothing except a 

 desolate plain, dark coloured almost to blackness. Not a 

 green thing is visible, not even a blade of grass. The few 

 trees, mostly standing singly, seem to be dead — and many 

 of them really are so, perhaps because the wallaby and the 

 sheep have gnawed the bark. None of them show green 

 leaves, and the few bushes, seldom rising more than a 

 couple of feet from the ground, are also bare. For in a 



