THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 121 



Crow-Shrike (Strepera) particularly being an excellent bit of 

 mimicry. 



White Cockatoos flew in flocks of scores. They appeared to 

 roost far back in the ranges, and came to feed about the base of 

 Bald Hill. 



Flocks of black birds were cawing about the summit of a steep 

 spur. Were they crows or ravens ? The question was settled by 

 an enthusiastic member of the camp, who scaled the rocky height 

 and brought back a raven. 



Some excellent photographs of the camp and its surroundings 

 were taken by Messrs. H. Anjou and A. J. Campbell. The other 

 members of the party were Messrs. J. Shephard, S. P. Townsend, 

 C. Ludwig, T. A. Brittlebank, W. Morton, E. C. Russell, R. Euler, 

 and F. Zeigler, with A. Mattingley as honorary secretary. 



.FIELD NOTES FROM THE LOWER WIMMERA. 

 By a. Campbell, jun. 

 {Bead 'before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 9th October, 1899.) 

 Referring to a map of Victoria it will be seen that the course of 

 the Wimmera River, after leaving Lake Albacutya, is due north, 

 and the river finally loses itself in the heart of the Mallee. This 

 tract of country, the Central Mallee, is without doubt the driest 

 part of Victoria, and during the month of October, 1898, when a 

 party, consisting of Dr. Chas. Ryan, Mr. C. French, jun., and 

 myself, paid a visit to the locality, it afforded a highly interesting 

 field to us, as collectors from the southern part of the colony. 



In the Mallee itself we did not observe many birds. Among 

 the few species we saw four at least may be termed unique in 

 the Australian avi-fauna. The birds I refer to are the Mallee 

 Fowl and the three smaller birds, the Bell-bird, Scrub-Robin, and 

 Red-throat. But what a change when the bed of the Wimmera 

 is explored. It is like coming to an oasis in a desert, and birds 

 of several dozen species are to be seen in scores. At one place 

 in particular that we visited, where there was a large sheet of 

 water, waterfowl were in hundreds. 



However, the Wimmera in this locality contains no water, save 

 in two or three places along its track, but its course is marked by 

 the belts of redgum and box trees, here and there widening out 

 into broad flats, which during seven or eight months of the year 

 are clothed with a wonderful crop of grass and other herbage. 

 Altogether they are really a pleasure to see after the dreary 

 stretches of waterless Mallee. Early in October, when we visited 

 these flats, the grass was quite luxuriant, and in some places 

 waving like a young crop in the wind, but, alas ! our guide told 

 us in another month's time, after the first hot winds had scorched 

 the herbage, the flats would be stretches of hard, black, cracked 



