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I shall never forget my first morning in an Australian 

 "bush." At home most of the sounds one hears in the 

 woods are as familiar as human voices ; but out here, 

 under the gums, all is new, and I often found myself 

 speculating on what the creature could be that made 

 some of the noises. There were whistling, shouting, 

 squeaking, crying, laughing, twittering, cooing, and 

 sounds impossible to name or describe. I soon began 

 to distinguish the cries of certain birds, and, before I 

 left Pan ton Hill, most of the songsters in that vicinity 

 were old friends. They were in fine plumage, and 

 some of the skins we made here are the brightest in 

 our cabinet. 



We obtained wattle birds (Anthochaera) of several 

 kinds ; three or four kinds of robins (Petroeca), some 

 with red, others with yellow or pink breasts ; thick 

 heads (Pachycephald) ; diamond finches (Pardalotus) ; 

 two or three kinds of shrikes (G-ymnorhina) ; several 

 kinds of kingfishers (Halcyon) ; cobbler's awls (Acan- 

 thorhynchus) ; leather heads (Philemon) ; and several 

 species of parrots (Aprosmictus, Platycercus, Trichoglos- 

 sus), among them the gorgeous purple lories, the ele- 

 gant king parrots, and the noisy blue mountain and 

 grass paroquets. 



Starting early in the morning, the greater part of the 

 day would be spent in shooting. 



On our return, we would prepare the skins, often 

 spending half the night in this work. Kangaroo 



