124 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



river's ancient track, where we intended to camp for the night- 

 The distance was i8 or 20 miles, but 3 and 4 o'clock passed, and 

 nothing came in sight but hill after hill and ridge after ridge, 

 clothed with Mallee and porcupine grass. Soon, however, we 

 could see an occasional clump of pine trees, and then a larger 

 patch ahead. Just about this time, too, a small flock of four or 

 five Black-tailed Parrakeets flew over, and, as our guide said, we 

 could depend upon them as a sign that water was not far away. 

 Our hopes then went up like a rise in a thermometer, for one at 

 least of our party had already seen visions of four weary men and 

 four weary horses roaming about in the Mallee with their tongues 

 hanging out for want of water. On entering the larger clump of 

 pine trees a little Black and White Fantail, Rhipidura tricolor, 

 was seen, another sure sign of the presence of water, for a few 

 hundred yards further on we caught sight of the waving foliage 

 of redgum trees. Descending the slope we were on a beautiful 

 grass flat, and Lake Brambrook could be seen shining through 

 the trees. It is remarkable with what suddenness the country 

 changes, for we saw absolutely no sign of the redgums until we were 

 almost on them. The chief reason may be that the flat on which 

 they grow is on a lower level than the surrounding country, . and 

 consequently the gums, although they are giants in comparison to 

 the Mallee, are hidden from view by the ridges of intervening 

 scrub. It was now getting late, and the night threatened to be 

 stormy. After watering our horses, we decided to camp for the 

 night on a point of land running out into the lake, and pitched 

 our tent alongside a tree which had recently fallen, and which 

 would afford us partial shelter from the wind. During the night 

 the storm passed over, and a few drops of rain fell. We were out 

 early in the morning, and what a beautiful sight it was to see the 

 long, narrow sheet of water, surrounded on all sides by the red- 

 gum trees, which here and there ran out in little headlands or 

 retreated in small bays ; and on the surface of the lake stately 

 Pelicans and Black Swans feeding in hundreds, while flocks of 

 Ducks and Cormorants moved about from one quarter to another. 

 Several Tippet Grebes were close in shore, no doubt wondering 

 who the new arrivals were ; and round in a small bay on our 

 right an old Black Swan was endeavouring to entice its young 

 ones, which had evidently just left an old nest lying among the 

 weeds, out into the open water, where they would be safe from 

 our interference. Along the shore the little Black-fronted 

 Dottrel, JSgialitis melanops, was seen running anxiously to and 

 fro, uttering its single piping note. After hunting in vain for 

 Dottrels' nests, we turned our attention to the birds on the flats. 

 We first visited an old tree from which a AVhite Cockatoo, 

 Cacatua galerita, was flushed the previous evening, and, with the 

 aid of climbing spurs and 20 feet of rope, the nest was reached ; 



