120 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



The waters of the Lerderderg are slightly clay-coloured, caused 

 by sluicing operations in its upper reaches. Ever since the 

 discovery of gold in the colony, gold in more or less payable 

 quantities has been won from the Lerderderg valley. Topazes 

 are also to be found amongst the rubble. 



The chief eucalypts on the ridges are Ironbarks, Bucalyjytus 

 leucoxylon, and Stringybarks, £j. capitellata, which send their 

 roots far into the rents among the crumbling slabs of slate. 

 Here, too, are several sweet-scented shrubs. Many flowering 

 plants were also noticed, but the absence of a botanist precludes 

 their names being given. The intervening dells, strewed with 

 moss-covered boulders, hedged about with tussock grass and 

 golden everlastings, were delightful nooks except for mosquitos. 

 The most perfect sylvan spots, however, were noticed at the 

 entrance of the ranges after passing what is locally known as Bald 

 Hill. 



I am not certain if it has been officially reported that on a 

 previous excursion the Aster-like shrub, Cassinici Icevis, was 

 found here for the first time in Victoria, and Westringia glabra, a 

 somewhat rare plant, was also obtained, having been previously 

 recorded for only two other localities in the colony. 



The ornithological notes made are of ordinary character. 

 Although not of many species, birds were plentiful. The whole 

 valley was fairly filled with cheerful bird songs, the most prominent 

 singers being probably the Thickheads — the White-throated and 

 the Rufous-breasted. The pluck of a little Black and White 

 Fantail amused us. A Jackass approached rather near its nest ; 

 the Fantail immediately jumped on the Great Kingfisher's back, 

 pecking it violently. 



A Grey Box tree in bloom appeared a surfeiting ground for 

 numerous nectar-loving birds. Three species of Lorikeets — the 

 Musk, the Purple-crowned, and the Little — were shot from its 

 flowering branches; while three kinds of Honey-eaters — the New 

 Holland, the Lunulated, and the Fuscous — were also present. 



A pair of Mistletoe-birds (Dicseum) had constructed a tiny 

 moss-made nest in a small gum sapling at the rear of our tents. 



The ubiquitous Tits, of course, were in evidence. There were 

 the Yellow-rumped, the Striped, the Brown, and the Bufif-rumped. 

 Nests and eggs of the two latter were found in tussock grass. 

 The Brown contained an egg of the Narrow-billed Bronze-Cuckoo, 

 the Buff-rumped the egg of the other Bronze-Cuckoo. While 

 mentioning Cuckoos, a little White-shafted Fantail was observed 

 feeding a noisy young Bronze-Cuckoo, but whether the Fantail 

 reared the Cuckoo or not is doubtful. 



A Scrub-Wren (Sericornis) shot proved to be the Allied. It 

 was a genuine pleasure to listen to an Oriole mocking the songs 

 of various of its feathered friends ; the ringing notes of the Grey 



