THE CUCKOO 153 



direction. The bird must have skulked from place to 

 place while completely screened by the scrub, otherwise I 

 could not have failed to see it. This cuckoo does not seem 

 to be known in the immediate neighbourhood of Albany, 

 but is probably identical with a species found on the Swan 

 River. There, however, it does not seem to be of particu- 

 larly shy or skulking habits. 



Birds of the duck family are rather numerous in species, 

 and were formerly so in individuals ; but they have been 

 much thinned by sportsmen and professional wildfowlers 

 from the townships. I met several men who obtained a 

 living by shooting the ducks from punts with swivel guns 

 — weapons which carried heavy charges, and cut the flocks 

 of birds up in a wholesale way. These men told me that 

 a few years ago the shores of the Sound and Albany bay 

 swarmed with ducks, but that these had become so scarce 

 that they (the men) contemplated abandoning the shooting 

 as no longer profitable. All the ducks of this part of the 

 country are found also in the Swan River district, in my 

 account of which they are described. 



Swans are found on the swamps and rivers of the 

 district, but not in great numbers. They migrate season- 

 ally, and sometimes seem to reappear only as stragglers. 

 One old fowler told me that in some years he had seen no 

 swans at all, though they could scarcely have escaped his 

 notice if they had been in any of their usual haunts, as he 

 was in the habit of shooting ducks in the inland swamps. 

 The black swan is only seen in this district as an 

 occasional straggler, but it is certain it was once abun- 

 dant here. 



The parrots and cockatoos do not materially differ in 

 species from those of the Swan River district, but they are 

 not nearly so numerous, a circumstance that is probably 

 accounted for by the dampness of the climate ; for nearly 

 all these birds are extremely impatient of rain, though they 

 do not seem to be so much affected by a considerable 

 degree of cold. 



The only other remark on the fauna of King George*s 

 Sound that I intend to make in this chapter, is to record 



