Voi.vm, 



] Jackson, Trip to Upper Hunter River Dist., N.S.W-. 15 



district. The big gates of the home paddock opened with 

 hospitable invitation, and a rapid run through park-like country 

 brought us to Belltrees homestead, the object of the day's 

 journey. 



I remained at Belltrees several days, and it seemed as if my 

 host and hostess had tried to find out how much comfort, interest, 

 and pleasure they could pack into the all too short time available 

 for my visit. The very large and picturesque homestead is an 

 essentially modern establishment, yet one close held to the warm 

 heart of Mother Nature. Telephones connect it with Scone and 

 the various out-stations, water and gas are laid on, so that it is 

 difficult to realize the distance at which it is situated from the 

 crowded centres of population. Nature and art have both been 

 levied on to add to its charm. The surrounding country has not 

 been robbed of its natural beauty ; the fine station buildings, the 

 pretty brick church and beautiful gardens, the huge woolshed 

 and outbuildings, all harmonize with their setting, whilst Mount 

 Woolooma, towering up nearly 4,000 feet above the whole 

 landscape, gold-clad in the morning and purple-hued in the 

 evening, seems to satisfy the last requirement of the artist's eye. 

 The first day after my arrival was chiefly spent in arranging the 

 interesting increase which Mr. White had made to his collection 

 of eggs by the addition thereto of -what had been recently 

 known as the "Jacksonian Oological Collection." Amongst 

 Mr. White's collection I was greatly interested in the remarkable 

 tgg of the Black-eared Cuckoo {Mesocalius palliolatus), which 

 he had found on the station a few months before ; another 

 interesting item was a pair of young Whistling Eagles taken 

 from a nest in a river oak a fev/ days prior to my arrival. 

 These Eaglets, with other birds, have since been forwarded by 

 Mr. White to Mr. David Seth-Smith, F.Z.S., for the London 

 Zoological Gardens. A walk over the station suspension bridge 

 brought me into clumps of stately river oaks, and here bird- 

 life was plentiful ; both Mr. White and myself were amused to 

 find the bottle-shaped nest of the Spotted-sided Finch built 

 on top of the mud cup-shaped home of the Magpie-Lark, and 

 located on a limb of a river oak overhanging the water. The 

 bridge just mentioned is a fine structure. I wonder what Gould 

 would have thought if he could have foreseen it and the rest of 

 the station improvements .'' It is hung on steel cables, above 

 flood mark, and was erected to meet the needs of sheep transport 

 at shearing time. Close by I was shown a mulberry tree, in 

 which, to my great surprise, Mr. White told me that he had 

 found a Reed-Warbler's {Acrocep/ialus anstt-alis) nest ; it certainly 

 was a novel nesting-place for a waterside, sedge-haunting bird, 

 but during my stay I was also shown a nest of the same bird 

 built between three upright stalks of the blue weed or wild 

 verbena ( Verbena bonariensis) — vide reference data No. 105, page 



