^"i 10^ 1 Macgillivray, The Region of the Barrier Range. 8q 



of the bird's dives were near enough to just brush the chmber. 

 M'Lennan told me — what I could not see from below — that the 

 Falcon's claws were extended when near him. The female flew 

 round, but made no attempt to attack. Only one egg was in the 

 nest. 



On our way back a wild black cat was put up from the under- 

 growth, and went bounding away through a waving mass of yellow 

 and white everlastings and scarlet poppies. These cats were met 

 on all our rambles. They grow to a larger size than the ordinary 

 domestic " Tom," and kill many birds. 



The road from this point to Langawirra lay for the most part 

 over a wide, open plain. For the first few miles the vegetation 

 consisted of typical saltbush, intermixed with yellow buttons, 

 annual saltbush, and wild oats. The crab-holes were still moist. 

 Brown Song-Larks now took the place of the Rufous species, and 

 Orange-fronted Chats began to replace the Tricolours. Odd Pipits 

 {Anthus australis) were met with, and towards the centre and drier 

 part of the plain, where the herbage was scant, bird life was reduced 

 to a minimum. ' A few Pratincoles {Stiltia Isabella) favoured 

 this area, their fawn-coloured, trim little figures assimilating with 

 their surroundings. On being approached they ran ; hard pressed, 

 they rose easily, and flapped away on long, swallow-like wings, to 

 alight again at no great distance, bob up and down, and resume 

 their wanderings on foot in search of young grasshoppers and other 

 insects. 



After we had crossed the White Cliffs road the country became 

 very barren, many places being bare and wind-swept. Gardiner's 

 Creek came in here on our right, and we entered the scrub, the 

 cultivation paddock coming in sight almost immediately. This 

 paddock of 300 acres is irrigated naturally by the overflow of 

 Gardiner's Creek, and grows a splendid crop. Wild-flowers were 

 plentiful here, and the neelia {Acacia rigens) just coming into 

 bloom. A few Black-faced and many Masked Wood-Swallows 

 were either perched on the lower bushes or hawking in the air, 

 Miners, Spiny-cheeked and Singing Honey-eaters were heard and 

 seen in the mulgas. We went on, after calling at the Woolshed, 

 to pitch our camp on the edge of the lake below the station. The 

 lake, dry since our last visit, 12 months ago, had been replenished 

 by the winter rain, but not to its full extent. It is, roughly, horse- 

 shoe-shaped, with the station building on a sandy point in the 

 concavity of the horseshoe. There is another large lake below 

 the Woolshed, into which Gardiner's Creek empties ; it was now 

 full. These lakes are surrounded by box trees, but do not support 

 any reeds or rushes, probably because of their frequently drying 

 up. When filled to overflowing (which may occur once in 10 or 

 15 years), the lakes hold water for three or four years, and this is 

 the case with most of the larger lakes in the district. The sur- 

 rounding country is mostly sandy, and covered with mulga and 

 neelia scrub, with an imder-scrub of turpentine and cassia. The 

 under-scrub is nearly all dead, however, as a result of overstocking 



