CHAP, vi.] AUSTRALIAN DROUGHTS. 303 



for many months together without water, feeding on the 

 tender shoots of plants; and the Bronze-wing and 

 Harlequin Pigeon, Phaps chalcoptera and histrionica, 

 just take an evening sip of the muddy pool they have 

 flown so far to taste, and are off again to their parching 

 haunts, after having only just wetted their bill. Captain 

 Sturt remarks, " It is astonishing, indeed, that so small 

 a quantity as a bare mouthful, should be sufficient to 

 quench their thirst in the burning deserts they 

 inhabit." 



It is quite impossible for fireside travellers to more 

 than guess at the joy of expected rescue to life from a 

 horrible death, which the movements of an Australian 

 Pigeon can inspire. Captain Sturt 's narrative of such an 

 event is the more touching that it is unaffected. "None 

 of the horses would eat, with the exception of Traveller. 

 The others collected round me as I sat under a tree, 

 with their heads over mine, and my own horse pulled 

 my hat off my head to engage my attention. Poor 

 brute ! I would have given much at that moment to 

 have relieved him, but I could not. We were all of us 

 in the same distress, and if we had not ultimately found 

 water, must all have perished together. Finding that 

 they would not eat, we saddled and proceeded onwards. 

 At the head of the valley Traveller fell dead, and I 

 feared every moment that we should lose the colt. We 

 made straight for the spot where we expected to relieve 

 both ourselves and our horses, but the water was gone. 

 Mr. Sturt poked his fingers into the mud and mois- 

 tened his lips with the water that filled the holes he 

 had made, but that was all. In this situation, and with 

 the apparent certain prospect of losing my own and 

 Mr. Browne's horse, and the colt which was still alive 



