BIRDS. 371 



motions of no startled deer or ostriches scudding over 

 the country, and leaving a train of dust behind, gave 

 life and animation to the scene. No trace of kan- 

 garoos, or of natives, not even the sign of a fire, 

 greeted us on this inhospitable coast. The evidences 

 of animal were as scanty as those of vegetable life. 

 Two brown bustards rose out of the grass ; they 

 were of the same size and colour as those seen in 

 the Gulf of Carpentaria, and quite as wary, which 

 was very singular. A couple of specimens of land 

 birds were shot; one of them resembled a Meli- 

 phagus, although its stomach was filled with small 

 beetles, finely broken up;* its head was covered with 

 yellow pollen, out of a flower resembling the mallow, 

 which is frequently resorted to by small beetles 

 during the heat of the day, when the petal closing 

 over them they are extracted, with some difficulty, 

 by the bird. The other specimen was a brown 

 grain-feeding kind ; it invariably rested on the 

 ground, where in its habits, head erect, tail down, 

 and short, sudden run, it greatly resembled a tit- 

 lark. 



At daylight on the 14th we continued our explora- 

 tion from the spot where we visited the shore, 

 marked on the chart as Red Hill ; and found that 

 the coast trended W. by S. to the part fronting the 

 Amphinome Shoals, and that instead of the continued 

 sandy beach were occasional low rocky projections. 



* Usually observed in the specimens of this species procured 

 by Dr. Bynoe. 



2 B 2 



