Vol. XII. 



1912 



1 White, Field Ornithology in South Australia. 



123 



wheeled and turned in the morning sunhght before they settled 

 down on the wet mud close to the water. Having drunk, they 

 rose with one accord and iiew off to their feeding-ground. Next 

 a large flock of Cockatoo-Parrakeets {Calopsittaciis novcB-hollandice) 

 put in an ai)pearance. They, too, circled over the water several 

 times before alighting. A dead myall tree stood some little 

 distance from the dam, and its branches were hidden by the birds. 

 They flew down, a dozen or more at a time, till all had satisfied 

 their thirst, when they flew away towards the north-east in a 

 flock. Before they had gone the Crested Pigeons (Ocyphaps 

 lophotes) had arrived for their morning drink. These birds did 



Camp lu Salt-bush Country. 



FROM A PHOTO. BY S. A. WHITE, 



not fly up in a flock, but came in from the salt-bush jilains in one 

 long line, two or three abreast ; and, instead of flying straight 

 down to the water's edge, they alighted some distance away, 

 running up to the dam and down to the water very quickly. The 

 male birds paused now and again, pouted their lovely throats, 

 and uttered a deep cooing note. Specimens procured some distance 

 from water had a tablespoonful or more of that liquid in their 

 throats. Possibly they were conveying it to their mates which 

 were brooding. 



The country over which our track passed for many miles was 

 open salt-bush plain, undulating in places, with patches of myall 

 and sandalwood. Strangely formed hills rose abru])tly out of 



