WHITE— A Trip on ike Coorqng. 167 



tiful and their strange gurgling note was often heard, the 

 noisy Minah was in evidence, the White-browed Babbler was 

 also' seen, the Striated Tit was moving about in large parties. 

 A few Grows were observed flying over. We reached camp 

 in time to have tea, and for me to get out amongst the Bristle 

 Birds at sunset. There was a pair of Butcher-birds nearly al- 

 ways about the camp, and a fish was tied by the tail to one of 

 the tobacco trees near our tents, every half hour they would 

 come along, and have a great squabbling over the fish, pulling 

 vigorously till they procured a good mouthful, then off they 

 would go' to a distant tree 'to swallow it, these birds were so 

 Tjold that they would attempt to take the fish out of the fry- 

 ing pan, while the pan was on the fire. After a most success- 

 ful time amongst the Bristle Birds I said goodbye to my 

 friends, who wore remaining, and at 4 a.m. on the 14th, board- 

 ed the motor boat with the owner, and we soon had the 

 anchor up and on board, and were steaming for Goolwa. I 

 witnessed one of the most wonderful sunrises I have ever seen, 

 for the banks on either side were wrapped in a veil of mist, 

 the sun like a ball of fire shining through this thick fog, ap- 

 peared as if steeped in blood, and threw the most wonderful 

 coloured lights upon the water, from which the fog or mist 

 was rising in columns. Objects in the distance were mag- 

 nified to many times their real size, stately old Pelicans looked 

 like full-rigged ships, and when a party of these birds was 

 ■swimming from one side to the other, they looked like a con- 

 vov of ships in full sail. A White : faeed Heron standing on 

 the bank appeared through the deceiving mists as large as an 

 •emu. The journey back was as full of absorbing interest for 

 we were passing every few minutes some fresh species of 

 birds, fine old Black Swans were seen feeding, their long necks 

 thrust down, and their tails on end as they reached to the bot- 

 tom for weed. Cormorants of several species, were sitting 

 on the stones or the muddy bank, Gulls and Terns were con- 

 tinually passing up and down. One '.mottled' black and white 

 Tern was quite new to me, and I was unable to get a speci- 

 men. The motor boat grounded in the shallows, and we had 

 to put my things into a dingey then pull on for a mile or more 

 into deep water, where we found a motor boat going into 

 Goolwa; with a sporting party which we joined, and reached 

 Goolwa in time to catch that afternoon's train to Adelaide. 

 The weather all through had been very fine, the days rather 

 liot at times, but cold nights often with dense mists or fo'gs. 



