134



Mr. G. A. Heumann,



common Parrakeets flew past, screeching as they always do ; after

them came the Hawks, waiting for the flocks of Doves and Finches

to feast on. I shot as many as six to ten every morning, amongst

them the beautiful white variety. The first of the smaller birds to

arrive were the Blue-eyed Doves, and in countless numbers. When

u hawk would swoop down on them whilst drinking, the whirr of

their wings reminded us of the roar of the incoming waves on the

ocean beach. Then appeared the Parrakeets, the Browns and the

Hooded, and here I may mention that those I handled all had the

hood coloured black ; the younger male, only half coloured, showed a

more dirty sooty colour. All the specimens I handled—speaking of

males of course, — show 7 ed either the black or sooty colouration.

None, either from this part or those from the Mary River or Driffield

way, had a hood that one might call brown, even with a certain

amount of imagination. Of course the Northern Territory is a vast

country and other forms may exist elsewhere, but within 300 miles

south of Port Darwin, they are all alike. I often wondered where

the real Golden-shouldered, “ the yellow 7 frontal banded,” might be

at home, but no information was available, so that I have concluded

they must be found in the southern part of the Golf Country,

down the Roper River or thereabouts.


After the Parrakeets had quenched their thirst, the Finches

arrived in untold quantities. Gouldians, the red and black-headed

ones in grey and coloured costumes, Masks, Longtail Grassfinches

(the red-hilled variety) and Double-bars (the black-rumped kind) —

they all catne, not in hundreds hut in thousands. The Blood-finches

seem to me to he the elite of this rabble, always keeping to themselves,

taking their drink apart from the others. It is generally supposed

that all these birds are very delicate, but to live through the cold

and bleak nights up there would convince anyone that they are as

hardy as any hard finch. All they really want in an aviary is a

family nest, so that, as in their native home, they can roost in com¬

pany inside and keep one another warm during the colder nights.

One may see their nests almost on every bush. As the sun rises,

the different kinds of Honeysuckers come flitting across the water;

those gorgeous Bee-eaters are there in great numbers, probably their

winter quarters; and during the day, Pelicans or Jabberoos would



