on his Visit to Australia.



49



and early spring. In the hot dry summer vegetation is practically

dormant. At the time of my visit I was able to form some slight

idea, by the number of withered seed pods, of what the flowers had

been. As it was, the blue Lobelia was growing everywhere and

the ground in places was carpeted with maiden-hair fern. A fox-

terrier which accompanied us started a monitor Lizard, locally

known as a “guano,” which hurriedly scampered up the trunk of

a large eucalyptus, carefully keeping on the opposite side of the

tree to where we were. These lizards grow to a very large size,

some measuring as much as six feet in length.


A bird which interested me considerably, and which was

common in the forest country was the Leaden Crow-Shrike

{Strepera plwnbea), known in the district as the “ Squeaker,” a

name which suits it well. It is about the size of a Piping Crow,

of a dull black colour, the tail-feathers being broadly tipped with

white. It is shy and very noisy and disliked by the settlers on

account of its partiality for fruit. However I am told that, if

taken from the nest and hand-reared, Squeakers make most

delightful and intelligent pets.


During the heat of the day practically no birds were to be

seen or heard, but in the afternoon a great change took place, and

bird life was much in evidence. We heard the uumistakeable

and frequently repeated cry of the Black Cockatoo, at first in the

far distance and then nearer, until a party of more than twenty of

these magnificent birds passed within a hundred yards of us,

their white ear-patches showing very conspicuously. They

passed on over the tops of the trees and settled on the leafless

branches of some huge forest giants which had undergone the

process of ring-barking. We soon heard others approaching and,

within a very short space of time, three or four parties of

Calyptorhyncluis baud ini had passed us. They are very noisy

birds ; their cry, which sounds like “ gnoolark,” being constantly

uttered as they fly, and also when settled, if danger is suspected.

These birds are very rarely kept in captivity in Australia, and

most of the settlers go so far as to assert that they cannot be kept,

a statement which however is by no means correct. Nevertheless

there is undoubtedly a great difficulty in getting newly-caught

birds, or young birds taken from the nest, to feed ; and this fact



