^"'ig'^s'^'] -^^^ Mallacoota Excursion. 1 29 



numerous about the grassy places east of the rendezvous. No 

 nests, however, were located. 



Sleeping in houses has advantages, but the practice on such 

 a trip also carries disadvantages, chief of which was the missing 

 of the dawn-chorus that campers-out become accustomed to hear 

 from the birds. And so early rising was not a feature of the trip. 

 The whole place, in fact, was a land of " Lots of Time," and soon 

 the visitors philosophically adapted themselves to the novelty 

 of having to wait till after 8 p.m. for a dinner announced for 7. 

 They said, in effect, " What boots it to repeat that time is 

 slipping underneath our feet ? " And time slid away the faster 

 because of the supreme disregard meted out to it. The factor 

 most clearly defining the passage of the days was, by the way, 

 the receipt of war news, which, seemingly, was impossible to 

 leave behind. It came over the wires each evening. 



The party split on the third day, and each detachment got on 

 well. A walk to Lake Barracouta, a fresh-water sheet about 

 3 miles from Mallacoota, did not reveal the expected water- 

 birds, but the beautiful heath country passed through gave the 

 retiring little Emu-Wren {Stipiturus malachurus), a Calamanthus, 

 and a Bristle-Bird {Sphenura hrachyptera), while a Climaderis 

 that Mr. Mellor secured occasioned a good deal of speculation 

 because of the bright rufous marking of the lower back and rump. 

 This bird was generally regarded as specifically new until Captain 

 White proved it to be the young of Climaderis leucophcea. That 

 portion of the party that went westward by motor launch 

 occupied a goodly time on the water, travelling through the 

 wonderfully-indented Genoa " lake " and along the majestic 

 river to where it joins forces with the equally broad-bosomed 

 Walangaraugh. Fine streams are both of these, and the run to 

 Gipsy Point (near the meeting of the two rivers) is as delightful 

 a boating excursion as the most fastidious could desire. Some of 

 the numerous little coves are absolute gems, and the " sou'-west 

 arm " of the lake (or river), with curiously-pointed Genoa Peak 

 smihng down out of a blue mist, is a single pearl. The country 

 inland from the bank opposite the Gipsy Point postal depot 

 appeared inviting, but the birds were hardly more numerous there 

 than the snakes — big, active black fellows that persuaded one to 

 keep an attentive eye on the ground as well as up trees. Every- 

 where was the incessant greenness of a luxuriant land, from the 

 tall, straight timber to the bracken and thick scrub ; and it was 

 probably just this that accounted for the absence of numbers of 

 birds. Creatures of light do not seek heavy over-grown areas in 

 any numbers. 



Friday morning found the motor launch in service again, and 

 a call was made at the residence of Mr. E. H. Lees, surveyor, a 

 well-appointed, prettily-situated dwelhng on a north-eastern arm 

 of the inlet. After enjoying hospitaHty there, the party moved 

 north, and, while most stayed quietly about the shore, the orni- 

 thologists rowed up the i)retty, narrow, much-snagged stream 



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