THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 129 



ing leaves, from which the heat, generated internally, is derived. 

 The actual egg cavity in this case measured no more than i8 

 inches across, and about 7 or 8 inches in depth, and was sur- 

 rounded on the bottom and sides by the bed of leaves before 

 mentioned. The three eggs taken showed that the birds had 

 only begun to lay, and had not yet completed their first tier of 

 four. We returned home well pleased with the result of our 

 morning's ride. For dinner we had scrambled Mallee Hen eggs, 

 and they proved first-class diet. 



Next day our experience of Mallee Fowl nesting was still 

 further enlarged. This time we went more afield and in a 

 northerly direction. Soon after leaving the homestead we 

 emerged on to a fine open plain, geographically known as 

 Warringen Plain. According to observations this must have been 

 at one time a splendid lake, not very deep but of considerable area, 

 and into it the Wimmera River emptied itself The track of the 

 river can now be traced to it but not beyond. The plain must be 

 quite six miles in diameter, and the most of it is good . for grazing 

 purposes. In or very near the centre, however, is a large tract 

 of barren sand, which has so far defied the efforts of plant life to 

 grow thereon. The plain is bordered with belts of redgum and 

 box trees, which are alive with birds. Three varieties of Parra- 

 keets, the Brown Tree-creeper, the Tree Martin, and the Striated 

 Pardalote are again in numbers, among the dead and living 

 timber alike. The Red-capped Dottrel, JUgialitis ruficapilla, 

 has been collected here too, and one day Mr. M'Lennan saw a 

 male specimen of the Tricolored Chat, Ephthianura tricolor^. 

 But we did not cross the plain. Our track lay along the edge 

 for a short distance, and then turned off into the pine scrub. 

 Here the birds most numerous were the White-browed Babbler ; 

 one nest taken contained three eggs. A few Pink Cockatoos, 

 Gacatua leadheateri, were seen, and one, nest was found, situated 

 in a hollow of a dead pine trunk, not more than ten feet from the 

 ground. Three eggs were in the clutch, but so nearly hatched 

 that the bill of one of the young birds had already chipped the 

 shell. Among some pine bushes, too, I tried hard to shoot a 

 beautiful male Black-backed Wren which was attended by three 

 little brown females, but was unsuccessful because of the birds' 

 quick movements among the undergrowth. The male bird 

 moved about with great rapidity in the small shrubs and creepers, 

 and wherever he went he was closely followed by his three little 

 brown mates in single file. 



In concluding this part of my paper, I will mention an incident 

 that occurred during this outing, causing some amusement among 

 us. When crossing a grassy open among the pines, a rough- 

 skinned lizard was espied feeding leisurely on the blue-bell flowers. 

 One of our party captured the reptile, and, holding it in one hand, 

 attempted to remount. The horse, however, started off before our 



