Vol: X. 

 1910 



] Macgillivray, The Region of the Barrier Range. gn 



the fox, and in one place a whole tragedy of the night before was 

 written plainly on the sand. The fox tracks, proceeding cautiously 

 up a watercourse, came to where they met, at right angles, the 

 footprints of a Stone-Plover [Burhinus grallarius). The prints of 

 the fox immediately shortened, and proceeded for some distance 

 with steps all crowded together. Even the haltings could be 

 made out, whilst the tracks of the "Wee-loo" wandered round 

 to the other side of a fallen bush half-buried by the drifting sand. 

 Here her footprints ended, and a few bunches of feathers told of 

 a successful stalk. 



After lunch M'Lennan and I looked up several places in a westerly 

 direction, in the mulga and box, while the rest of the party, armed 

 with spades, proceeded to unearth a fox. On our way out we 

 disturbed a dingo, which bounded away across a dry flat and 

 over a sand-ridge for the thicker scrub. The Sittella's nest now 

 contained three eggs. The Tricoloured Chat was common in the 

 open scrub all over this run, but the Orange-fronted species does 

 not move from the wide salt-bush plains. On our return home, 

 after a long and quick march, a swim in the lake was the best 

 thing. On the lake we twice noted two or three Gull-billed Terns 

 {Gelochdidon anglica), but they soon went elsewhere. Several 

 Pelicans also paid a visit of short duration. There are no fish in 

 the lake. 



After dark the rest of the party returned, bringing three very 

 young fox cubs, an echidna, and some beetles, all found in the 

 fox earth ; the vixen they did not get. Visiting this spot about 

 a fortnight later, M'Lennan found a Kingfisher and a Black-and- 

 White Swallow nesting in the side of the trench made in digging 

 out the fox. 



On the 5th October we struck camp and packed up, to make 

 our way back to Broken Hill. We visited the station first, to get 

 some nardoo stones and take leave of the manager, Mr. Black ; 

 then M'Lennan and I got away to skirt the road, and to be picked 

 up by the trap later on. The calling of a White-browed Tree- 

 creeper led M'Lennan to find its nest in a sandalwood, the pair 

 of eggs resting on the usual bed of rabbit fur. Here we were 

 picked up by the trap and driven to Sleep's Well Creek, our camping 

 place for the time being. Birds were plentiful in the vicinity of 

 our camp, where there is good water in the creek. Right over 

 the camp was a nestful of young Ravens in a tall, sappy gum ; and 

 in bunches of mistletoe on separate mulgas, not 10 yards away, 

 were two nests of the White-plumed Honey-eater, each containing 

 one egg. These useful birds are common throughout the district, 

 and do not differ in any way from those found in Victoria. Here 

 they live mostly on insects, as honey-bearing flowers are not 

 frequent, except during a good season, and are absent altogether 

 during the long droughts which so often afflict the district. I 

 have often watched them assiduously searching and stripping the 

 eucalyptus leaves of scale, and they are as quick to capture an 

 insect on the wing as any Flycatcher. We always look forward 



