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THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



family was a quartette. Taken from 

 the hollow under protest, they made a 

 charming group when settled on a log. 

 We returned them, of course ; but they 

 had tried their wings, and were eager 

 to remain out in the world. 



Years afterwards, when wandering 

 amid the noble ruins of Karnak, in 

 Egypt, I remembered the Kestrels of 

 Yanco Creek. On ledges and in crev- 

 ices in the Hypostyle Hall, that forest 

 of mighty columns reared of old. 

 Kestrels were nesting. Their shrilling 

 calls echoed through the aisles — fancy 

 transformed the pillars into gum trees, 

 and the voice of the wind in the palms 

 to a murmur of running water in 

 Australian wilds. 



I have given only side glances at 

 some of our birds of prey. Those not 

 even mentioned are worthy of jjictures 

 and praise. See them in Nature if you 

 can, and learn, as I have done, to think 

 of them as " Good Australians.'" 



Young Kestrel at entrance to nest hoUow. 



[Photo. — C. Barrett. 



Ball's Pyramid. — In an article by 

 Mr. A. R. McCulloch, published in this 

 Magazine (Vol. I., No. 2, p. 41), it was 

 mentioned that Ball's Pyramid, " a 

 pimiacle rising eighteen hundred feet 

 into the sky, yet but sixty chains long 

 at the base," is practically a terra 

 incocjiiita, none but a party of surveyors 

 having ever landed upon the rocks 

 around the base. Recently, however, 

 the intrepid Morrisby brothers suc- 

 ceeded in landing on the Pyramid, and 

 Mr. Logan H. Morrisby ascended the 

 steep rocky face for about seven hun- 

 dred feet, after a three hours' arduous 

 and dangerous climb. Last year Mr. 

 Morrisby sailed all round the Pyramid 

 and scanned it eagerly through his 

 binoculars, but was unable to land. 



He was then under the impression that 

 the pinnacle was entirely bare of vege- 

 tation, but he now" finds that, on the 

 northern faces, there is a certain amount 

 of short grass, rushes, and small ti- 

 trees ; the southern sides are practic- 

 ally bare, perpendicular, and unscal- 

 able. Streams of fresh water trickle 

 down the cliffs, which are formed of 

 basalt. As for animal life, beside the 

 innumerable gannets, which nest in the 

 caves that honeycomb the cliff sides, 

 the daring explorers found some small 

 lizards and a sort of " Silver Fish " 

 {Lepisma), but think it probable that 

 there are other insects on the island. 

 We are indebted to Mr. Camden Mor- 

 risby for these particulars. 



