" bird's playhouse." 97 



and ignited quickly when put into the flame of a 

 candle. The sides of Water Valley were very pre- 

 cipitous, and nearly 300 feet high : a growth of 

 palms marked the spot, and served to indicate our 

 wells. We here saw also the same fruit I had 

 noticed on Curiosity Peak. I found matter for con- 

 jecture in noticing a number of twigs with their 

 ends stuck into the ground, which was strewed 

 over with shells, and their tops brought together 

 so as to form a small bower ; this was 2^ feet long, 

 1|^ foot wide at either end. It was not until my next 

 visit to Port Essington that I thought this anything 

 but some Australian mother's toy to amuse her 

 child: there I was asked, one day, to go and see 

 the "bird's playhouse," when I immediately re- 

 cognised the same kind of construction I had seen at 

 the Victoria River : the bird* was amusing itself by 

 flying backwards and forwards, taking a shell alter- 

 nately from each side, and carrying it through the 

 archway in its mouth. 



November 22. — The moon being full to-day we 

 noticed that the tides were very strong : particularly 

 the flood stream, which came in " bores," and 

 sometimes swept by the ship at the rate of Q^ knots, 

 while the ebb did not exceed 4J : the greatest rise 

 also to-day was 24 feet. 



November 25. — My journal of this day begins 

 with remarking a very extraordinary change that 

 took place in the winds. Instead of the usual 



* Figured in Mr. Gould's work as Chlamydera nuchalis. 



VOL. II. H 



