THE VICTOEIAN NATUEALIST. 153l 



been blown down ; others had all their branches broken off. 

 The hail and wind together stripped every leaf off many of the 

 trees, and took the bark ofif the weather side of all the smooth- 

 barked branches and bushes, even the big Lemon-scented and 

 other gums suffering in like manner. The hailstones were about 

 the size of pigeons' eggs, and the wind blew with terrific force. 

 The cyclone only lasted about a quarter of an hour, and after it, 

 had passed over all kinds of birds were found lying dead, also 

 Native Bears and Opossums. 



On another day we went out walking on a stony ridge not far 

 from the station, and were fortunate in flushing a White-throated , 

 Nightjar from the ground and finding its egg. There was not 

 the slightest appearance of a nest — in fact, the hard stony ground 

 where the egg was laid must have been very uncomfortable for 

 the bird to sit upon ; the egg was hard set, but we managed to , 

 blow it successfully. Shortly after we disturbed a Squatter: 

 Pigeon from the ground and found its nest, which was made of a., 

 little dry grass, with two eggs in. An Australian Goshawk was 

 also seen to swoop down on an unfortunate Squatter Pigeon and 

 carry it off. When having a spell under a shady tree, we 

 watched a pair of crows sitting close together on a neighbouring 

 tree, but they did not see us. A Leatherhead evidently was 

 watching them too, and flying quickly past behind them, gave 

 one of the crows a dig on the back with its beak. The crow 

 gave a loud "caw" and looked very surprised at the temerity of 

 the Leatherhead, which did not wait to see the result of its attack. 

 Shortly after the crow flew to a bush close by and with some 

 difficulty broke off a dead twig and flew off with it towards a tall 

 Lemon-Scented Gum tree, but before it got half way it knocked 

 the twig out of its beak with its wings. However, it caught it 

 again before it reached the ground and, after resting on a small 

 tree, made another attempt, but with the same result. It then 

 held one end of the twig in its beak, with the other end sticking 

 straight out, and succeeded in reaching the gum tree, where it was 

 building its nest* A Dollar Bird probably also had its nest in the 

 neighbourhood, as it was flying excitedly about and. going in and 

 out of a number of holes in the trees, with the evident intention 

 of misleading us as to where its nest really was. The bird is so 

 called from a round white patch on each wing the size of a dollar ; 

 and it utters some very curious notes, but not quite so erratic as 

 the sound the Leatherhead makes. When near the house we 

 found the nest of the Black-throated Butcher Bird and the 

 Collared Butcher Bird, which had been built in small Bloodwood 

 trees about 30 ft. from the ground, the eggs of both being just 

 about hatching; and in a Rosewood tree near the same place, a 

 Pomatorhinus had built its bulky nest, which contained three eggs. 

 The little native bees had a hive, generally known by the name of 



