124 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Skippers, is well represented. The leading member in beauty is 

 Euschemon rofflesia, which is very attractive to the eye ; another 

 is about the same size, but coloured dull blue, with a sooty-black 

 border to the wings. Two smaller brownish species frequent the 

 long grass, and dart away with lightning-like rapidity as you 

 disturb them from their cover. The last butterfly I shall mention 

 is the large white and silver-coloured Charaxes sempronhis, which 

 I have seen busily feeding on the sweet juice oozing from 

 damaged fruit in the orchard. Moths are equally as plentiful as 

 butterflies, especially the Hawk Moths. I captured specimens of 

 Chcerocampa celerio and others hovering about the verbena flowers 

 in the garden. The Agaristidse are represented by three or four 

 species, the most noticeable of which is the many-coloured 

 Agarista agricola. While the Lepidoptera are so common, mem- 

 bers of the Coleoptera, or beetle tribe, are very scarce indeed. 



I shall now pass on to the birds, which are truly the life and 

 glory of the scrub. I did not note above seventy-eight species, but 

 the majority are true denizens of the semi-tropical growths. A few 

 species, however, such as Magpies, Quail, &c, are essentially 

 birds of the open field, while others are seemingly impartial, and 

 are found usually in the second growth, or in the outskirts of the 

 scrub itself. The Black-backed Magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen, and 

 the Pied Crow-Shrike, Strepera graculina, are plentiful in the open 

 country. The latter is of a retiring disposition, however, but is 

 very noisy ; a party of four or five will make the place re-echo 

 with their wild calls. The Butcher-bird, Cracticus destructor, is 

 everywhere admired as a beautiful songster, but here it is eclipsed 

 by the Black-throated species, G. nigrigularis, which is, without 

 a doubt, in its striking plumage of black and white, the handsomest 

 of the family. The Dollar-bird, Eurystomus atistralis, and the 

 Drongo, Chibia bracteata, are both very noisy birds, frequenting 

 the outskirts of the scrub. The Laughing Jackass, Dacelo gigas, 

 and the Sacred Kingfisher, Halcyon sanctus, are as common as in 

 southern districts ; but there is the addition here of the Forest 

 Kingfisher, H. macleayi, which is a beautiful bird. It is of a 

 bright blue colour, with the under surface white and two large 

 white spots showing on the wings as it flies. The male is dis- 

 tinguished by having a band of white around its neck, but in the 

 female the collar is not complete. A fourth species, the Azure, 

 Alcyone azurea, is found along the creeks. The Forest Kingfisher 

 selects the unique position of a white-ant's nest for its own 

 domicile ; it tunnels a hole into the side, and deposits five or six 

 eggs in a cavity excavated in the centre. The Sacred Kingfisher, 

 and even the Jackass, have been known to use the ants' nests 

 similarly. On one occasion I observed a Forest Kingfisher 

 nesting in a " calabash " or clump of Staghorns, for in the soft 

 brown fibrous growth of rootlets it no doubt found a cosy retreat. 



