On my Visit to Australia.



133



from which she started : by this means the full length of the cage

is taken advantage of. As a general rule birds fly from perch to

perch ; and it is, I suppose, only the rapidity with which the

Chat strikes the wall with the soles of its feet and flings itself

back which prevents it sliding on the smooth surface.



NOTES ON MY VISIT TO AUSTRALIA.


By David Seth-Smith, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U..


(Continued from page 78).


The voyage from Fremantle to Adelaide occupies four

days, and there is no means of travelling from the Western to the

Kastern States except by sea, though the construction of a trans¬

continental railway, traversing the mighty desert ( is seriously

contemplated. When this railway is constructed two or three

days will be saved in the journey from home to Victoria or New

South Wales, and the Great Australian Bight, dreaded by those

who do not love the sea, will be feared no longer.


Fortunately the Bight was 011 its best behaviour when I

•crossed it in the good ship “ Oroutes,” and one was able to

observe in comfort the bird- and animal-life of the Australian

seas.


As we left Fremantle Harbour great numbers of Silver

Gulls (La?ns nov<z-hollandi(Z) followed the ship, while Cormorants

both black and pied were perched in numbers on every buoy or

post at the harbour mouth. Outside, as we approached the open

sea, Petrels were seen, skimming the waves like so many Swal¬

lows. The common Petrel of these seas is the “Mutton Bird”

•or Short-tailed Petrel (^Puffnis teuuirostris), a species which breeds

in vast numbers on the islands in Bass Strait, where the young,

which are provided with an extraordinary quantity of oil}'- fat,

form the staple food of the islanders. The way in which the

young Mutton Birds are taken and preserved for food has often

been described, and I will not dilate upon it here


Several other species of Petrels frequent these seas, but

•one who is new to these regions and inexperienced in the study

of this group of ocean birds, has great difficulty in distinguishing

between the species as they glide in circles over the waves, per-



