104 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



duck eggs are sprinkled around it. Pieces of Prions and regur- 

 gitated remnants lie about the brownish, grassy indent. The 

 nest is generally formed on Azorella that is broad and flat. This 

 extraordinary grass, that has one close ally only (South America), 

 grows in convex-like nodes. On portions, that appear as if 

 decapitated, the young are kept tolerably dry. 



The Azorella grows in a wavy formation, having its stems 2 to 3 

 feet high, and so innumerable and compact that I have walked for 

 hundreds of yards along the top of the dense perennial growth 

 without sinking an inch into it. It is green only at the tips, and 

 because the light cannot penetrate beneath the surface of its 

 massed tips there is no need of chlorophyl below. The stems 

 branch freely, and, like a person being in a dense crowd of people, 

 not one stem is allowed to droop. The Skuas seem to know that 

 moisture does not lie in Azorella, and use it in the interests of their 

 offspring. A young bird about to leave its nest, and nearly as 

 large as the parents, is half down and half feathers. While en- 

 deavouring to hide itself it lays the head and neck upon the 

 ground, and when approached the head rotates till the chin is 

 uppermost. It may turn round even further and open its mouth, 

 with a frightened look and a fearing call. The young birds nearly 

 always stalk about the grass with their heads down and neck 

 drawn inwards. The most common notes are four in number, 

 the fourth much prolonged, all high and plaintive. 



Many details in the field history of this species have been 

 recorded, information on which may be gathered from the Ibis, 

 January, 1900; "Phil. Trans.," vol. clxviii. (1879); " Miscell. 

 Coll. Smithsonian Instution," vol. xiii. (1877), &c. 



A TRIP TO THE RICHMOND RIVER DISTRICT. 



Part I. — General and Botanical — continued. 



By A. Campbell, jun. 



(Bead before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 9th July, 1900.) 



Another very common plant is the large aroid, Colocasia 



macrorrhiza, Schott., commonly called Cunjevoi, which flourishes 



on the leaf-covered ground. Many of the plants are of such an 



age that their succulent stems extend along the surface for 6 feet 



or more, and so luxuriantly do they grow that it is no uncommon 



thing to see a leaf whose blade is 5 feet in length. This plant 



has a small greenish arum-like flower with a very heavy perfume. 



The masses of these pretty plants are broken here and there by 



the brown forms of decaying logs, on which are fantastic shapes 



of fungi. The mycelium, or roots, of one species of fungus give 



out a phosphorescent light, which has a very weird appearance. 



