1137) THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST 
On the 28th July we returned to Townsville, meeting our friend 
Mr. Campbell, and also having another addition to our numbers 
in the person of Mr. A. A. Gulliver, a botanist connected with the 
Acacia Vale Nursery, Townsville. 
Next day we left by the ‘8.5. Palmer” for Cardwell, which we 
reached after a fine run of fifteen hours. 
Cardwell really seems to be a town of the past. Itis fifty years 
behind the age at least. How the few inhabitants exist is a mystery 
to visitors. The buildings seem rapidly falling into decay, in fact, 
if the government offices, &c., were removed, there would hardly be 
a respectable looking house left. 
If you have an hour’s business to do at the store, you must 
certainly make up your mind to devote the major part of the day to 
it, and consider yourself fortunate if you get through in that time. 
There is no church in the place, and services are not read on Sundays 
as in most other places. 
The sleepy appearance of the town did not trouble us much, for 
after staying long enough to lay in a stock of provisions, we made 
straight for the bush, and finally camped at Heunga Creek, four 
miles distant. This is a very pretty place and I am sure the site of 
our camp would make a fine picture. In front of us ran the creek, 
its sides fringed to a considerable depth with the tropical scrub, the 
density of which we had yet to learn by painful experience, but 
which seen for the first time certainly looked invitme. On our 
right was a garden, filled with Orange, Lemon, Lime, Guava, and 
Cocoanut-trees, most of them bearing ripe fruit, which stood out in 
strong relief from the dark green leaves, while behind us ran a long 
range of rugged-looking mountains, Siever’s Range they are called, 
which seemed to promise us many a weary day’s tramp in the future: 
and the promise was fulfilled. 
During this, our first night at Heunga Creek, it came on to rain, 
in fact, the rain was our greatest drawback, and during the 
remainder of our stay, we certainly had enough of it. Between the 
Herbert and Johnson Rivers, the rainfall is greater than in any other 
part of Queensland, so we could not expect to escape it, but I really 
think we had more than our share. 
Owing to the wet we did not get anything very good during the 
first week, but still managed to secure a few of the commoner 
varieties, such as the Black-headed Pardalote, Pardalotus melanoce- 
phalus, the Bronzed and Unadorned Cuckoos, Lamprococcyx lucidus 
and Cuculus tnornatus, a Black Duck, Anas superciliosa, and sundry 
others, but as the weather got more settled, we made ‘several good 
takes. The first was a pair of Blue Shining Fly-catchers, Pzeso- 
rhynchus nitidus, beautiful birds. The female differs greatly from 
the male, in fact, it may easily be taken for another variety. 
Instead of the dark blue on the back, it has a light chocolate colour, 
