THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST 113 
and as we were only four miles from its mouth, it was quite salt. 
The banks being acted upon by the tides, are mud, out of which the 
mangrove grows to a height of ten or twelve feet, and so thick that 
it is difficult to get from the water to the shore. Alligators were 
at one time very plentiful there, and I was assured by the manager 
that one was shot measuring thirty-two feet, but they have been 
nearly exterminated. During the whole time we were there, we 
saw but two, and they took care to keep far enough away. 
The bottom of the Creek is composed of mud and sand, without 
rocks or snags of any kind, so it is a splendid place for boating. 
We had a fine pull for a few miles, when we had a shot at a flock of 
ducks, and succeeded in bringing down two: one of them however, 
only being wounded, got into the mangroves, and although I 
followed it with the mud above my knees, until I was really in danger 
of being bogged, and making a meal for an alligator, it escaped. 
The one we got proved to be the Radjah Shieldrake, Tadorna 
radjah, a very fine bird, and the only one we secured during our 
trip. The only other bird we shot on the Creek was a Wimbrel, 
Numenius uropygialis, an indifferent specimen. Our Shieldrake 
however, quite compensate us for our day’s work, and we returned 
to camp tired but satisfied. 
During the following week we did some very good work, and 
bagged specimens of the Bee Haters, Merops ornatus, White- 
breasted Graucalus, Graucalus hypoleucus, Black-backed Crow 
Shrike, Black-throated Crow Shrike, Cracticus nigrogularis, Yellow 
Honey Eater, Ptelotis fava, and many cthers. 
After staying between three or four weeks on the sand ridge, as 
we named the place, we decided to move a little higher up tne creek, 
and spending a week there before finally taking our departure, so 
packed up, and struck off to the west, and after a walk of a few 
miles, pitched our tent by the side of a dam, about half a mile 
distant from Alligator Creek. 
As this was the only place where fresh water could be obtained 
without going a considerable distance, we concluded that birds such 
as Pigeons, Hawks, ete., would come to drink, and we were not 
mistaken, for when we turned out at daylight next morning, we 
discovered two beautiful White-breasted agles, Ichthycaltus 
Teucogaster, or as they are called about there, White-headed Fish 
Hawks, by the water’s edge. Of course it is one thing to see, and 
another to shoot them as they are very wary, and on this occasion as on 
several others,they gave us the double. We made up for our dis- 
appointment by shooting some pigeons, which turned out to be of the 
Squatter variety, and fine birds they are, both for the pot and collection. 
They are the heaviest birds for their size that I know of, and, of 
course, we tried a good many during our trip. After skinning these 
pigeons, we again turned our attention to the eagles, and tried hard 
