voi-^xvi.j Barrett, Bird Life on Yaiiko Creek (N.S.W.) iq 



their efforts to rescue the other tledgehngs. Repeatedly they 

 darted down to the branch on which the young ones were perched, 

 and occasionally made vicious dives at my head. Finally, the 

 whole family was united again, but the parents were not content 

 until we left the vicinity of the tree among whose branches the 

 brood was concealed. 



An interesting nest was that of a pair of Black-cheeked Falcons 

 {Falco nielanogenys), in a big hollow, at a height of about 40 feet. 

 The birds have nested in the same place every season for a 

 number of years, though I believe that the eggs have been taken 

 more than once. Several nests of the Nankeen Kestrel {Cerchneis 

 cenchroides) were discovered, some being at a great height in 

 living gum-trees. One nest was in a hollow of a dead tree, on 

 the bank of the creek. The brood consisted of five, and, as the 

 birds were well grown, they were awkward to handle. We got 

 them all out of the hollow eventually, and, ranged on a bough, 

 they made a fine picture. Four were returned to the nest, but 

 the fifth eluded us, and tumbled into the creek. We feared it 

 would drown, but, using its wings as paddles, it managed to reach 

 the other bank, and scrambled ashore, safe, though bedraggled. 

 The Kestrel preys mostly on small lizards, field mice, and insects, 

 but when driving into Jerilderie we saw one swoop at a Wood- 

 Swallow, and bear it aloft in its talons. Such an occurrence, 

 surely, is rare. 



On the return journey to Jerilderie we called again at the 

 boundary riders' huts where we had spent the night on the way 

 to the creek. We learned that White Cockatoos [C. galerita) 

 were nesting in the vicinity, but could not spare the time for a 

 side excursion to the spot. As we neared the town a dust storm 

 overtook us, and for at least three minutes pony, j inker, and 

 ornithologists were enveloped in darkness. The dust was so 

 thick that we could hardly breathe, and when the storm had 

 passed we were coated in grey from head to feet. The dust 

 swooped on us like a moving wall that towered into the sky. On 

 the plains in summer these storms frequently occur. 



Max Egger, during portion of the year, followed the occupation of 

 bird-trapping ; he sent large numbers of Galahs and Warbling 

 Grass-Parrots [M elopsittacus undulatus) to dealers in Sydney, 

 receiving for the former birds about ninepence each, and 

 less for the Budgerigars. He asked me to accompany him and 

 two assistants on a trapping expedition, and I accepted the in- 

 vitation. My fiiend explained that if he did not trap the Galahs 

 the birds would be poisoned or shot in thousands, as they were 

 regarded as pests by men on the land. And I found that the 

 trappers were welcomed wherever land was devoted to wheat- 

 growing. I did not actually see a Galah attacking wheat, but 

 was shown a field where the ears had been stripped and the stalks 

 were mostly broken ; this was declared to be the work of 

 Cockatoos. The evil of poisoning is that not only Galahs. hut 

 other birds, that are certainly not pests, suffer. 



