222 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
the course of the streams, now mostly waterless. Back from 
and between the watercourses are short box-tree (another 
species of Eucalyptus) flats. In paddocks where the trees 
are “rung” for pastoral purposes, they appear dull and dead, 
relieved only by the green suckers springing from their base, 
and in keeping with the ground, which is clothed with the 
dead herbage of last season’s growth. An occasional dry bed 
of a Polygonum swamp adds to the monotony of these box- 
flats, while “a rise” of graceful pines (Callitris) is a cheerful 
contrast to the sight. 
Being winter, the days are calm and cloudless, as a rule, 
with much warmth in the sunshine, while the nights are 
cold, clear, and frosty. 
We perambulate the country on foot, or sometimes take 
horseback, spreading out and proceeding in line. The nest 
is nearly always discovered by the Emus starting up and 
running directly away swiftly through the bush. Not much 
time is lost in finding her, or rather his, starting-point, and 
there is revealed a solid oval of large and beautiful dark- 
green eggs, side by side, touching or nearly so, with all their 
long diameters running in the one direction, or with the long 
way of the oval. If the eggs be warm, either one or other of 
their ends feels cold to the touch. I suppose embryologists 
can assign a reason for this. 
The hunters tell me that occasionally, on going through 
country quietly and coming suddenly upon a sitting bird, he 
will extend his neck out upon the ground as if to escape 
observation before being forced to run. In one particular 
instance an old bird sat so closely to his charge that he had 
to be removed with the aid of a stick. The clutch (14 eggs) 
was nearly hatched, which accounted, no doubt, for the poor 
bird’s unwillingness to quit. 
The eggs gathered are placed down the legs of old pants, 
in arms of singlets, or rolled in cravats, the division between 
each egg being tied tightly with string, the garments when 
charged resembling so many strings of great squat-shaped 
sausages. These rings of eggs are now carried round the 
hunter, over his shoulder and under the opposite arm. The 
next ring is balanced vice versa; and should the clutches be 
