278 Jackson, In the Barron River Valley, N.Q. [ist^june 



nest to-day containing a tiny scrub opossum, the smallest of the 

 species which I have ever seen ; in the pouch I found a young- 

 one. The parent measures only 6 inches long, and the tail is 

 about the same length. Fur is brown in colour, and around 

 each eye there is a black circle. I could not find it figured 

 in Gould's work on " The Marsupials of Australia." 



During my absence in Evelyn and Atherton, Mr. Frizelle and 

 the three natives paid a hurried visit to the scrubs on the 

 Tinaroo Mountains, and at an elevation of nearly a thousand 

 feet above our camp they found the huge bowers of the Golden 

 Bower-Bird. The country there is exceedingly rough, and is 

 about 8 miles from our camp. The object of this side mission 

 was for the purpose of selecting one of the huge play-grounds 

 for a photograph, in case my visit to the Evelyn scrubs had 

 failed. However, I was successful in the latter place, and 

 consequently my journey to the Tinaroo Mountains was 

 unnecessary. 



I learned to-day from the natives that the large seeds or 

 beans which are taken from the pods of the scrub chestnut-tree 

 {^CastatiQsperuimn australe) are utilized by them as a food, which 

 they call by the name of "Jung-era," the tree itself being 

 named " Wag-ee." A large fresh-water turtle or " Budg-e-gul," 

 from the river, visited our camp to-day. 



Saw another nest to-day (i8th December) of the Victoria 

 Rifle-Bird, from which the young birds had recently flown. 

 This belonged to one of our long-watched pairs of Rifles, but 

 which had completely baffled us. Saw pipe-calabashes growing 

 along the edge of the scrub to-day. The vine is like that of a 

 marrow, the blossom white ; three of these hard-cased gourds 

 are shown on the ground in the illustration (Plate XXXI.) of my 

 camp. Most persons are familiar with the match-box bean 

 [Entada purscEtha, De C), which is found in huge flat pods, 

 sometimes 5 feet in length by about 4 inches in breadth, and 

 containing as many as 18 beans. But probably (t\v persons 

 have seen the vines growing. They bear a somewhat small, 

 glossy leaf, and one vine will often envelop many acres of scrub. 

 Near Mount Dalrymple, in the Pioneer River district, I saw the 

 butt of one of the vines thicker than a man's body. On my 

 return to Sydney, the State Governor, Sir Harry Rawson, 

 K.C.B., accepted one of these large pods, which he took to 

 England as a memento of my North Queensland trip. 



Pheasant-tailed Pigeons and Red-winged Lories {Ptistes 

 erytJiropteriis) very plentiful, and feeding in company on the 

 introduced ink-weed {Phytolacca dioica), the berries of which 

 constitute food for so many different kinds of birds. Cuckoos 

 are very scarce, excepting, of course, the Koel and the noisy 

 Channelbill, which is always ready to break silence. Rose- 

 crowned Fruit-Pigeons {Ptilopiis ewingi) are plentiful, and 



