12 Jackson, Trip to Upper Hunter River Disf., N-.S.W. [i^t^'juiy 



rambles of many weeks' duration. In December of 1907, how- 

 ever, I had the opportunity, in response to a kind invitation 

 from Mr. H. L. White, of Belltrees station, of again going further 

 north, and of visiting the district lying east and west of Scone, 

 made famous by the interesting accounts which Gould left of 

 his observations and collections. I left the iron road at Scone, 

 one of the prettiest townships on the Northern line, situated in 

 the rich pastoral region of the Upper Hunter, about 200 miles 

 north of the New South Wales capital. Here I was in touch 

 with localities frequently referred to by the great naturalist in 

 his work on the birds of Australia. Segenhoe, Dartbrook, 

 Yarrundi, and Aberdeen, and, further up the Hunter, Belltrees 

 and Ellerston, had before my visits only been names to me, but 

 were now to be mine by personal experience. These places will 

 be found quoted by Gould in his great book, and also in his 

 " Handbook to the Birds of Australia," v/de vol. i., pages 12, 31, 

 84, 96, 470, 480, 528, 539, 547, 566, &c. ; vol. ii., pages 19, 84, 91, 

 104, 208, 219, 240, 328, 365, 370, 377, &c. Of course the 

 progress of settlement and the expansion of the railway system 

 have effected considerable changes ; large areas of forest have 

 yielded to axe and plough, yet birds are still there in large 

 variety, and in the course of my visits I noted nearly ninety 

 species, in many cases characteristic of that and similar districts 

 only. Yarrundi afforded special points of interest. When 

 Gould was there, in 1839 and 1840, the homestead, which was 

 then occupied by the Coxen famil)^, was his headquarters, and 

 is shown in the accompanying photograph, taken by myself. 

 Times and localities have altered since then, as one may gather 

 from the recorded fact of his securing his first Little Eagle 

 {Nisnl'ttis morphnoides), with its nest and Qgg, on the flats near 

 the station. In those days the FakonidcB were numerous about 

 there, as Gould referred to noticing about forty Brown Hawks 

 in one tree close by. Possibly the abundance of game birds then 

 existing would account for this, as the Bustard or Wild Turkey 

 {Etipodotis (X2istralis) was then very common in the district, 

 though now it is considered a rare bird. As I drove along the 

 road to Yarrundi on the first morning of my stay the grass- 

 hoppers were very much in evidence, rising in clouds as we 

 disturbed them, pelting our faces as we drove through them, and 

 then settling again behind us. Rich, but not rare, must have 

 been the daily banquet of the Magpies and other insect-feeders 

 of the district ! It was not long before we found ourselves 

 amongst the heavy timbers, which to a great extent are still in 

 their original luxuriance and splendour. The birds that first 

 morning were sheltering from the heat, and their silence was 

 somewhat notable, still signs that the breeding season was not 

 yet over were soon noticeable. Amongst the nests which I first 

 dropped across were those of the Bee-eater {Merops ornatus) and 



