MEMOIR OF THE LATE JOHN GOULD. 113 
Wood Pigeon, were to be seen. Emus were wandering over 
these plains, uttering their hollow, drumming notes, and troops 
of Kangaroos were quietly reposing in their primitive pasture- 
grounds. Of the latter animals Mr. Gould discovered several 
new species, some of gigantic size, and capable of overcoming the 
strongest and boldest of his dogs. 
After an absence of six months Mr. Gould returned to Sydney, 
where he received letters and collections from Gilbert, who 
subsequently proceeded to the north, making Port Essington his 
principal station. 
We have said that, while making Van Diemen’s Land the 
centre of his operations during the first months of his arrival, 
Mr. Gould paid a hasty visit to New South Wales. It happened 
to be during one of the severest droughts ever known in the 
country. Little or no rain had fallen for fifteen months; the 
rivers and pools were all dried, the land was a parched waste, 
vegetation was burnt up, and famine was spreading destruction 
on every side. 
When, after an absence of five months, however, Mr. Gouid 
returned to the same place, an extraordinary change had passed 
over the face of the country. The rain had copiously fallen, and 
the plains on which but a short time previously not a blade of 
herbage was to be seen, and over which the stillness of desolation 
reigned, were made green with luxuriant vegetation. Orchids 
and thousands of flowers of loveliest hues were profusely spread 
around, as if Nature rejoiced in her renovation; and the wheat 
shooting up vigorously, gave promise of a plenteous harvest. 
Suddenly hosts of caterpillars made their appearance, and 
inundating the country commenced their work of devastation ; 
but not unchecked, for in the train of these destroyers came vast 
flocks of birds attracted by their prey. Hawks of three or four 
species, in flocks of hundreds, were busy at the feast; and 
thousands of straw-necked Ibises (Ibis spinicollis) and other 
birds were performing their allotted parts and benefitting man, 
while they revelled in the profusion of, to them, a welcome 
banquet.* 
* For most of the details above given of Mr. Gould’s travels in Australia 
we are indebted to an article in the ‘ Westminster Review,’ written, if we are not 
mistaken, by the late Mr. D. W. Mitchell, on the appearance of the first part 
of the ‘ Birds of Australia,’ which was published in December, 1840. 
Q 
