^°'; T^^'] Barrett, Bird Life on Yanko Creek {N.S.W.) 23 



wanderings through Austrahan wilds. Many of these birds are 

 killed in flight by striking against telegraph wires. On the road 

 near Jerilderie I counted ovei a score of bodies, and my companion 

 said that this was not unusual. 



In very dry seasons Warbling Grass-Parrots travel far south, 

 and small flocks were observed in the summer of 1915 amid the 

 tea-tree at Black Rock, on Port Phillip Bay. " Old Bushman," 

 in his charming book, " Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist," 

 mentions this species in the chapter on the ornithology of Port 

 Phillip. " Occasionally, but very rarely," he writes, " a flock 

 of the Budgerigar, or Shell-Paroqueet, would pay us a visit ; and 

 I recollect, in the middle of the summer, 1854, our gum-trees 

 swarmed with them. They stayed about a month, when they 

 suddenly disappeared, and only an odd straggler or so has been 

 since seen in our district." On the Riverina plains, in a good 

 season, thousands of Budgerigars are captured by the trappers, 

 and the market is glutted, with the result that the birds realize 

 only a few pence apiece. I am a staunch advocate of bird 

 })rotection, but I cannot truthfully state that trapping has any 

 appreciable effects on either Galahs or Warbling Grass-Parrots. 

 With regard to the former species, my friend declared that they 

 were even more numerous in 1913 than they were several years 

 before. But we should be watchful, for some birds that are now 

 extinct — the Great Auk and the Passenger Pigeon, for instance — 

 formerly existed in vast numbers. 



After returning to Jerilderie, I spent a clay with Mr. Egger, 

 hunting for a nest of the Australian Dottrel {Eudroinias aiistralis). 

 The place where we searched is not far from the town — a desolate 

 area, with scanty vegetation. There are large barren patches of 

 greyish-white soil, surrounded by beds of star thistles and other 

 lowly plants. Signs of the birds were seen, and more than once 

 we felt sure that a nest would soon reward our patient patrolling ; 

 but always came disappointment. My friend had secured two 

 clutches of eggs from this locality. One was discovered by a 

 boundary rider, who saw the Dottrel go to her nest. The birds 

 are extremely wary, and nests are most difflcult to find. 



Before bidding my friend farewell, I asked him to write a paper 

 for The Emu, and he promised to do so when he had leisure. 

 But death intervened, and we have lost a very valuable con- 

 tribution to the knowledge of Riverina bird-life. Mr. Egger was 

 a true naturalist, and no man has had a more genial and kindly 

 companion than I had in my Riverina rambles. 



Mr. C. F. Belcher, M.A., LL.B., at one time co-editor of 

 The Emu, has been appointed by the Governor of Uganda 

 District Judge at Entebbe, which is the administrative centre 

 of the Protectorate. 



