BY GERARD KREFFT. 369 



sometimes at a height of a hundred feet or more; as soon as 

 they are nearing the net, another native who is posted in the 

 scrub gives a peculiar whistle similar to a species of hawk 

 throwing a flat piece of wood or a boomerang among the startled 

 birds, which immediately stoop to the level of the water's edge ; 

 quick as lightning the net is raised, the ducks get entangled in 

 its meshes, and become an easy prey to the women and children, 

 who jump in to secure them. 



I have seen from 50 to 100 ducks taken in this manner at a 

 haul. Black Duck, (Anas superciliosa) ; Shovellers, (Spatula 

 rhynchotis) ; Teal, (Anas punctata) ; Pink-eyed or Whistling 

 Ducks, (Malacorhynchus membranaceus) ; Wood Ducks, (Bemicla 

 jubata) ; and White-eyed Ducks, (Nyroca australis) ; being the 

 species most common. 



Of fresh water crustaceans, we find the large river Cray-fish, 

 (Potamobius serratus,) distinguished by its spiny back and white 

 pincers, and a species of Prawn, which is frequently eaten raw by 

 the natives. 



The large cray-fish is secured in a very simple manner : a 

 canoe is fastened in the stream, and two or three natives paddle 

 with their hands in the water, the great crustacean makes a dart 

 at their fingers with its pincers, and before he finds out his 

 mistake, he is safely landed into the canoe the pincers being 

 immediately broken off. 



Other kinds of food which the lagdons or river supply are 

 tortoises, (Chelodvna), generally taken during the hot summer 

 days when the water is low, also muscle shells (Unw) large 

 mounds of which may be traced upon the river banks at intervals 

 for hundreds of miles. 



Most of the natives being supplied with guns, they are able 

 to surprise almost every kind of bird, though they generally 

 shoot water-fowl only. The Emu is still hunted in the primitive 

 style by hunters carrying bushes in their hands, and so trying to 

 steal a march upon the rather stupid bird ; as soon as they are 

 within range their spears are thrown and the bird secured. 



Fishes, cray-fish, insects, frogs, lizards, snakes, all birds, and 

 the smaller mammals, are generally roasted upon the coals; 

 whilst emus are treated in the following manner : The feathers 



