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



and, with a view to finding them again, I carefully marked the 

 locality. On my way back to camp I found seven more nests 

 of the Spotted Cat-Bird and two of the Log-runner. But I 

 had to pay painfully for the results. I got badly stung on the 

 face by the giant or large-leaved stinging-tree, when reaching 

 out to one of the Cat-Birds' nests ; the sting was so severe that 

 my eyes and throat were badly affected, and not even the appli- 

 cation of the supposed antidote — the juice of the scrub lily or 

 cungevoy — would lessen the smarting pain. 



The Black-headed Log-runners are rather interesting. They 

 fly but little, but their running powers are as remarkable as 

 their unique and frog-like note. Literally they " scratch for a 

 living " — scratching hard, too, and scooping deep pockets in the 

 rotting scrub-strewn debris. There were a good many of the 

 beautiful Barred Cuckoo-Shrikes {Graucalus lineatiis) in the 

 scrub, and I could hear their notes all around me, sweet, clear, 

 and musical, a pleasant contrast to the harsher calls of some of 

 the local songsters. The Ashy-fronted Fly- Robin {Hcteroniyias 

 cineteifrons) has a habit of often dropping its wings to the trail 

 when feeding and hopping about ; it is a very quiet bird, having 

 apparently only three gentle notes, the first high and the 

 successive two low-pitched ; they are known to the aborigines 

 here as " Tul-be." At first I assumed these birds to be one of 

 the species of Rhipidtira, owing to their movements and wing- 

 dropping habit, which, for example, is very noticeable in the 

 White-shafted Fantail {RJiipJdura albiscapa). The scrub-itch 

 mites, tiny red parasites hardly visible to the eye, punished me 

 severely again to-day ; they mostly attack the legs below the 

 knees, and quickly reduce them to a raw state of intense irrita- 

 tion, which was bad enough to make sleep quite impossible, and 

 I found on inquiry that the aborigines suffer to a similar 

 degree. 



Next day (3rd November) I found I could not possibly ven- 

 ture into the scrub, for, between the severe scalding sting of the 

 giant nettle-tree and the countless bites of the scrub-itch mites, 

 I found it necessary to be careful lest blood-poisoning should 

 ensue. In the big fig-trees I could hear the Koel and Channel- 

 bill making very loud music, and had to content myself with a 

 day of note-writing and listening. 



The following morning (4th November) I felt well enough to 

 start off at 5 o'clock to watch the pair of Victoria Rifle-Birds 

 previously located. As the early morning is the female's feed- 

 ing time the hour was opportune, for it is the female that gener- 

 ally betrays the nest. Sixteen miles of scrub wandering I put 

 to my credit — 16 miles alone, for my mate had gone away that 

 morning for a few days — but the points of interest in that ramble 

 alone would fill a small book. In one place I found a wallaby- 

 camp ; the ground was worn down and trampled flat, and the 



