152 THE VICTORIAN NATURAI/IST. 



out to feed daring the evening. When riding out with Mr. H. 

 Barnard, we discovered the nest of the Collared Sparrowhawk, 

 about 90 feet from the ground, in a tall Lemon-scented Gum tree, 

 with smooth slippery bark and no branches for fully forty feet. 

 With the aid of a tomahawk Mr. Barnard soon went up the tree 

 by cutting notches for his toes, and secured a clutch of three eggs. 

 About a hundred yards away was found the nest of the Crested 

 Hawk, with the bird on the nest. The nest was built high up on 

 a smooth-barked gum tree, but it was also robbed of two whitish 

 eggs by the indefatigable climber. We then rode on for about a 

 quarter of a mile, when we espied, on the topmost branches of a 

 gum tree, the nest of the Australian Goshawk. Our climber 

 again tried his skill, and, ascending the tree, secured the three eggs 

 that were in the nest ; tying them up in his handkerchief and 

 holding it with his teeth, he brought them safely down. We then 

 rode on to a swamp some distance away and found on it a pair 

 of Black Swans and four cygnets, some Whistler Ducks, Slender 

 Teal, Plotus Birds, Coots, White Egrets, White-fronted Herons, 

 and a pair of Whistling Eagles that were on a tree near the 

 swamp. In the coarse herbage near the edge numerous Bandi- 

 coots had their nests, and we also disturbed several Rails ; and 

 hearing a pair of M'Leay Kingfishers making a great commotion,: 

 we crept noiselessly up to the tree and saw the birds darting at 

 an Iguana, or Lace Lizard, which had taken shelter there on our 

 approach. It was an easy matter, by throwing sticks, to dislodge 

 the creature from its refuge, and once on the ground we easily 

 despatched it. The Kingfishers had a nest with five eggs in in a 

 neighbouring tree. The Plotus Birds, or New Holland Darters, 

 sailed round and round at a great height, and, like birds of prey, 

 hardly flapped their wings. Black Duck here seem to frequently 

 build in holes of trees, like the Wood Duck, and one was seen 

 by Mr. C. Barnard bringing do-wn its young from the nest, 

 apparently in its beak, and in doing so seemed almost to drop 

 down from the nest to the ground. 



On leaving the swamp we rode to a place where some Black- 

 headed Snakes ( Aspidiotes melanocephalus ) were known to live,' 

 and on our way saw three Kangaroos (If. giganteus). Arriving 

 at the first log where a snake was expected to be found, we cut 

 holes in it, but discovered that the reptile had left for fresh 

 quarters ; another log was tried, but with like success, its 

 occupants having also shifted. Riding to a log where one had 

 been seen a fortnight before, and cutting a hole in it, we found 

 the snake at home. It proved to be a good specimen, about ten 

 feet long, and it was soon transferred to our bag. On returning 

 to the station, we passed through a belt of country about four 

 miles wide, over which two years before, in December, a hail- 

 storm or cyclone had passed. More than half the trees had 



