102 Macgillivray, The Region of the Barrier Range. [isr'"oct. 



A Grey Falcon came sailing down through the trees, menacing 

 a thieving Raven. So vigorous was her onslaught that the Raven 

 beat a hasty retreat. The Falcon's nest was placed, as usual, 

 high up on the slender limb of a eucalypt ; the nest contained four 

 hard-set eggs. 



We cut across country towards where we had lunched, the camp, 

 in the meanwhile, having been shifted further up the creek, in the 

 direction of our first camp on the trip. Following the creek up, 

 a Black Falcon {F. subniger) was disturbed from an old Wedge- 

 tailed Eagle's nest, and went off through the trees before we could 

 get a proper look at her in the gathering dusk. Our disappoint- 

 ment was great when only one egg was found in the nest. We left 

 the egg to make sure of its identity by an early morning visit. The 

 Goshawk's nest, found building on our outward journey, now con- 

 tained three hard-set eggs. Camp was reached as darkness came. 



Saturday, the gth October, our last day out, broke fine and 

 clear, and M'Lennan and I went off early to revisit the Black 

 Falcon's nest. We found the female on the nest, and the male 

 roosting in an adjacent gum-tree. Both birds flew away silently 

 and quickly through the trees, and were soon out of sight. We 

 left the egg, on the off chance of the clutch being completed, 

 M'Lennan deciding to run out in a week's time, although we were 

 fairly sure that incubation had started. This proved to be the 

 case. The egg was probably the last one of the bird, laid on an 

 emergency in the Eagle's nest, on account of some mishap over- 

 taking the original nest with the other eggs. 



After packing our belongings in the trap, M'Lennan and I 

 walked past the station, leaving the others to pick us up about 

 a mile below it. On the way down we had several interesting 

 " finds." Two Little Eagles' [E. morphnoides) nests contained 

 one and two eggs respectively. A Goshawk's nest in a more 

 sheltered part of the creek, on the usual horizontal fork, had one 

 egg reposing on green leaves. A Kite's nest, with three young 

 birds, on whom the feathers were just sprouting, showed the 

 variation in size of the young, so common amongst birds of prey. 

 Another pair of Goshawks were building, and a Whistling Eagle's nest 

 with one newly-hatched bird and an egg was noted. We met the 

 rest of our party, and after an early lunch resumed the homeward 

 journey, during which we noticed the difference that a month had 

 wrought in the character of the vegetation. In a climate in which 

 sharp frosts and the piercingly cold winds of winter days so 

 suddenly give place to hot summer days, all nature seems to hurry 

 to reproduce itself. The plants soon spring up, burst into flower, 

 and cast their seed, to be buried by the sand, and so protected 

 through the hot, dry period of the year, or perhaps to wait several 

 years before conditions are again favourable for germination. In 

 the same way the birds time the rearing of their young with the 

 flowering or seeding of the plants. 



We reached home well satisfied with our month's wanderings, 

 and better, mentally and physically, for the communion we had 

 had with Nature. 



