2^4 Jackson, In the Barron River Valley, N.Q. [isf June 



nesses of our magnificent jungle-forests should be dubbed with 

 so inappropriate a name as " scrub," a name which in itself 

 seems ill-fitted to suggest the wild beauty of those dense primal 

 forests ; still, as it is the accepted term, one has to use it, but I 

 often think that to those who have not seen an Australian 

 tropical scrub the word must convey a mistaken impression, 

 Be that as it may, I have, during my eight months' tour, visited 

 all the best scrub-lands from the New South Wales border up 

 to Cairns. 



Details of my researches will appear, I hope, in subsequent 

 issues of this journal. In the course of my wanderings I had 

 some very rough experiences, but to relate them here would be 

 beyond the province of this article. I only mention this as a 

 caution to other naturalists that a working trip through the 

 Queensland scrub-lands is in no sense a pleasure picnic. 



Among the many places to which my work took me, the 

 following localities may be mentioned, viz. : — Canungera pine 

 scrubs, Tambourine Mountain, and Beaudesert (south-west of 

 Brisbane) ; Eumundi and Cooran, in the Blackall Ranges (south 

 of Gympie) ; Coolabunia and Kingaroy scrubs (south-west of 

 Maryborough) ; Wongera scrub and Bundaberg, on the Burnett 

 River ; Colosseum Mountains and Miriam Vale (south-west of 

 Gladstone) ; Mount Larcombe, Gladstone, Yarwun, Targinnie, 

 and Raglan scrubs (all five in the Port Curtis district) ; 

 Rockhampton, Duaringa, Mackay, Finch-Hatton, Eton, also 

 Eungella Mountains (of which the three last are west of 

 Mackay) ; Bowen, Townsville, Lucinda Point, Ingham, Herbert 

 River, Cardwell ; Dunk Island, also Timanna, Kumboola, 

 Bedarra, and other islands in Rockingham Bay ; Goondi, 

 Mourilyan, and Geraldton, on the Johnstone River ; Cairns, 

 Atherton, Tolga, Tinaroo, Evelyn, Herberton, Herberton Range, 

 Cooktown, &c. 



It was on the 25th September, 1908, that I arrived at Cairns ; 

 and, taking train from that place on the 2nd October, I entered 

 the magnificent scrub-clad gorge that walls in the Barron River, 

 passing the lovely falls so well known by the same name, then 

 leaving beautiful Kuranda behind, and later Mareeba, I arrived 

 late that night at Atherton, a long-looked-for goal. 



The Atherton and Tinaroo scrubs lie about 70 miles south- 

 west of Cairns and on an elevation reaching in places over 3,000 

 feet. Here, then, I was at last (yet for the first time) in the 

 haunt of the Tooth-billed Bower-Bird, and the very first thing 

 I heard from a friend was that another person, fired by the 

 naturalist's inspiration, had only recently arrived in the district 

 on the same quest as my own, having followed in my wake 

 from Sydney several months after my departure. I lost no 

 time in getting to work ; in fact, despite late arrival and want 

 of sleep, I was, in company with Mr. Quirk (district Crown Land 



