126 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Soon we came to another broad flat, studded thickly with red- 

 gum trees, and here we found a good nesting ground. This 

 place is called " Black Flat," because of the very dark colour of 

 its rich alluvial soil ; but to us no black soil was visible, for the 

 surface was thickly clothed with waving green grass, in some 

 patches so luxuriant that it reached almost to our horses' knees. 

 The first bird to be disturbed from its nest was a Red-backed 

 Parrakeet. The hollow was in a living red-gum tree, and was 

 easily reached by standing on the horse's back. It contained, 

 however, several young birds and one addled egg. In the next 

 tree a Mallee Parrot, Barnardius harnardi, betrayed its home 

 by rushing out of a dead spout. This nest, unluckily for us, 

 also contained fledglings. This was the first place where we 

 found these two varieties of parrakeets breeding. Neither of the 

 species was observed at Lake Brambrook, but from Black Flat 

 northward they were everywhere in evidence. The beautiful 

 " Rock Pebbler " (Black-tailed Parrakeet) was also plentiful at 

 Black Fiat, and we succeeded in taking another clutch of five 

 eggs. Here, too, we could hear the notes of the Purple- 

 crowned Lorikeet, Glossopsittacus porphryocephalus, among 

 the trees. We observed one pair of birds investigating 

 a small hole in the elbow of a redgum branch, but were 

 evidently too early for their eggs. A short distance away another 

 lorikeet was seen to leave a hole, and one small fresh egg was 

 found therein. Moving to the other end of the flat we observed 

 a pair of the beautiful Little Cuckoo Shrike, Graucalus mentalis, 

 but were unable to locate their nest. Another Red-backed 

 Parrakeet's home contained two addled eggs, besides young 

 .(newly hatched). Other birds inhabiting the timber were the 

 Brown Tree-creeper, Climacteris scandens, the Striated Pardalote, 

 and the Tree Martin. Two nests of the last-mentioned were 

 found to contain young. This damped our ardour, so we did 

 not trouble chopping out any others. 



After thus making a quick search of this flat we proceeded on 

 our journey, for it was our intention to reach the next water and 

 spend the coming night there. AU we had now to do was to 

 follow along a well-defined track which is used occasionally by 

 shearers travelling from Western Riverina into Victoria. The 

 track runs almost due south from Mildura to Lake Albacutya 

 and Lake Hindmarsh. What a weary journey it must be through 

 the uninhabited Mallee, for Avell nigh loo miles, without a drop 

 of water till the Wimmera bed is reached ! 



Late in the afternoon we arrived at our next camping place. 

 This patch of water takes the name of Lake Wonga. It is only 

 about 6 or 8 acres in extent, but is of a greater depth than Lake 

 Brambrook. A few waterfowl, such as Black Swans and Coots, 

 were feeding leisurely on its surface, while a flock of Ducks made 



