1^2 Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union. [ isf 'i)ec 



As the shadows were beginning to deepen on the hillsides, after- 

 noon tea was served ; then the drags were boarded again. The 

 drive home in the calm of evening was as pleasant as the morning 

 journey had been. Over the city hung a golden haze : it faded, 

 and, as the drags approached the homes of the hill folk, lights 

 began to glimmer through the dusk. 



A River Trip. 



" Xo day without an excursion." That was the motto upon 

 which the kindly members of the Field Naturalists' Club acted 

 during the stay of the R.A.O.U. delegates in Brisbane. We arose 

 on the morning of 6th October from dreams of blue water-lilies 

 afloat on a still lagoon, and with Jacanas pattering over the leaves, 

 to be whirled away in electric tram-cars to landing-places on the 

 banks of the Brisbane River. The majority of the party, in- 

 cluding the ladies, boarded the Government steamer Champion, 

 and were taken to the mouth of the river. The vessel was hove-to 

 in a quiet reach, and at noon eight delegates who had made the 

 excursion in ^Ir. Ivan Bond's motor launch Teal, came aboard, 

 with the genial skipper of the little craft. A dinner, at which 

 Prof. Skertchly, Mr. Hy. Tryon. and others made capital speeches, 

 was the next item of the programme which the Field Club had 

 arranged. The generous hospitality was offered without ostenta- 

 tion, and when the president of the Union and Mr. D. Le Souef 

 attempted to return thanks, it was made light of by the hosts of 

 the day. 



The party in the motor launch had excellent opportunities of 

 observing the bird-life of the mangroves and the mud flats on 

 the voyage down the river. A start was maae at 8 o'clock, and 

 breakfast, prepared by Mr. Bond (who proved himself a capable 

 cook as well as a delightful host), was eaten as the Teal nosed 

 her way along, close to the western bank of the river. In places 

 the mangroves formed a dense thicket ; elsewhere, wide expanses 

 of mud, not yet overgrown by the ubiquitous plant, opened to 

 view. The coming of the launch, albeit she made little noise save 

 for the rippling of water about the prow, scared from their feeding- 

 grounds flocks of Whimbrels, Curlews. White-fronted Herons, and 

 other birds of the waterside. Sometimes a White-bellied Sea- 

 Eagle or a White-headed Sea-Eagle would go soaring above the 

 mangroves sereneh'. as if disdaining to hurry from a danger of 

 which it was yet conscious. Cormorants were seen flying clumsily, 

 after the manner of their kind ; and at whiles, from the low, 

 crumbling banks, a Kingfisher {Halcyon macleayi) would dart up, 

 the sheen of its plumage changing from violet to blue as it passed 

 from shadow to sunlight. 



Through a pair of Zeiss field-glasses the birds feeding on the 

 mud fiats could be observed with advantage ; and it was inter- 

 esting to watch the stately, deliberate movements of the long- 

 legged Waaers. Curlews were fairly numerous, sifting the mud 

 with their long curved bills, in company with White-fronted Herons, 



