THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 195 



tion is very thick, on loose sandy soil with little undergrowth they 

 cannot do so, and their movements are slow, in consequence of 

 the overlapping portion of their abdominal scales not being able 

 to get a firm hold on the ground. The Iguana can then secure 

 them if they are out in the open, and he rushes up, and, catching 

 them quickly in his mouth, gives them a good shake like a terrier 

 does a rat. He then drops them and backs away, only to rush 

 up and do the same thing again, until the snake is eventually 

 killed, when it is swallowed whole, the lizard jerking it down 

 by degrees. They also kill and eat opossums, frogs, birds, eggs, 

 &c. They are much infested with tapeworms and ticks, but all 

 the larger lizards and snakes have ticks on them more or less. 

 Echidnas, E. aculeata, are found throughout the district. They 

 have longer spines and less hair than those found in Victoria, but 

 are otherwise the same. They are also infected with ticks. 

 Their favourite food is Termites, or White Ants, and their burrows 

 into the mounds made by these insects are often seen. Turtles, 

 Chelodina longicoUis, are plentiful in the permanent waterholes or 

 streams, and in October or November make a small circular hole 

 in which to deposit their eggs. The excavation is about 2 

 inches in diameter at the surface and 6 inches deep, generally 

 being a little wider at the bottom. From 7 to 21 pure white eggs 

 are laid. They are an elongated oval in shape, and are not laid 

 in any regular order, being in all positions. The hole is filled up 

 with earth and some mud pressed down over the top by the 

 mother, which, when it dries and hardens, looks just like the sur- 

 rounding soil. The nests are occasionally a considerable distance 

 from the water, in dry, hard soil. 



Birds in Western Australia — anyhow, in the districts I visited — 

 are by no means numerous, except in certain favourite localities. 

 Probably the great want of water in summer has something to do 

 with it, but many residents state that they were much more 

 plentiful a few years ago than they are now. Probably the many 

 domesticated cats that have gone wild have helped a little in this 

 respect, as these animals are now found in the bush from one 

 end of Australia to the other, and birds probably form their 

 principal food. I will only briefly mention those birds that 

 I personally observed some of the habits of, and will not make a 

 detailed list of those seen, as my friend Mr. R. Hall, who has 

 been practically over the same ground, is doing so instead. All 

 the settlers are enemies to the Wedge-tailed Eagles, Uroaetus 

 audax, as they occasionally destroy lambs. The only time these 

 birds seem to appear in any numbers in the settled districts is in 

 August, when it is the lambing season. A {q\w nest in the forest 

 country near Cape Leeuwin, and occasionally in the more open 

 country further inland, but, as they appear mostly to come from 

 the north, it is possible that they principally nest there. Last 



