376 Birds of New South Wales I have caught and kept.


closely and was nearly scalped by them in consequence there is

enmity between them. When Johnny laughs the Curlews will come

to the dividing fence and screech, being followed by a dozen Plovers

and Sea-gulls, and one wonders at the volume of row they can

create, each one trying to outscream the other. Johnny has been

many years with me and bye-the-bye is a lady which, in spite of

her years, still indulges in a flirt during spring-time. The gentleman

comes from goodness knows where and tries in his own way to per¬

suade his love “ to come and fly with me.” But Johnny cannot,

being pinioned, and so they sit and laugh at one another, the lover

on the fence, the lady on the ground ! Romeo and Juliet reversed ! !


For a time I had a Native Companion Crane, “Peter the

Great.” Peter was supposed to stand on his head at four a.m. and

whistle “God save the King ! ” I cannot vouch for the truth as to

whether he did it, as I do not rise quite so early and of course might

have missed it. Peter, like the Magpies, had a habit of pulling out

all small plants and newly-planted shrubs, so that eventually we had

to part with him. He met his death at Mrs. Roberts’ place in

Hobart, being killed, if I remember rightly, by a Kangaroo.


This concludes my articles on the birds of N.S.W. which I

kept and, with but few exceptions, caught myself. I might say that

the catching of especially the rarer birds is one of the many pleasures

I got out of life. First to locate the birds one wants, often necessi¬

tating long distances of travel and entailing inconveniences and

even hardships, which seems foolish to those not sufficiently enthu¬

siastic. Then comes the necessity of studying their habits and of

considering the likely places where they might be caught. To catch

birds is not so easy as it looks, it requires more patience even than

fishing : plenty of really unlimited time and often plenty of cash if

you want to get the rarer species. But the delight and satisfaction,

when after days and weeks of trying, one has succeeded in outwitting

the bird one wants and has it in one’s possession, more than com¬

pensates for all the trouble in obtaining it. :,:


[Mr. Heumann, to whom we are much obliged for his most

interesting articles, has unfortunately, owing to the war, been de-


* A hair on the head is worth two in the brush. This doesn’t sound

quite the correct quotation, but it is perhaps near enough ! — Ed.



