ANIMALS. 91 



harmless — and then taps on the roof to let his friend above ground know its 

 position ; a hole is then sunk, and the wombat dragged out. Should the burrow 

 be under a layer of rock, the hunter lies quietly above its mouth, and, 

 when the wombat comes out after sunset to feed, he jumps into the hole and 

 intercepts the frightened animal on its retreat to its den. The flesh of a fat 

 wombat is considered very good to eat. No use is made of the skin. 



The bear, or ' sloth bear of Australia,' forms a substantial article of food ; 

 and it is easily discovered by the hunter, as it does not hide itself in holes, but 

 sits all day long in the fork of a tree. On a native ascending the tree, it 

 gradually climbs for safety to the top of a branch so slender that it bends with 

 its weight. As the climber dare not venture so far, he cuts the limb, and with it 

 sends the bear to the ground. But, as nature appears to have given tree-climbing 

 animals immunity from injury from falls of even hundreds of feet, the bear 

 immediately scrambles up the nearest tree, imless someone is ready to secure it. 

 No use is made of the skin of the bear. 



The emu, the turkey bustard, and the gigantic crane are stalked by means 

 of a screen made of a bunch of plants held in front of the hunter. The plant 

 used is the shepherd's purse, and a bunch of it is indispensable to every hunter 

 on the open country, where branches of trees are not easily got. The hunter, 

 concealed from view behind this screen, creeps up towards the game, and carries 

 exposed to view as a lure a blue-headed wren, which is tied alive to the point of 

 a long wand, and made to flutter. When the game approaches to seize the bait, 

 it is killed with a waddy ; or it is caught with a noose fixed on the point of the 

 wand, which the hunter slips over its head while it is trying to catch the 

 wren. 



The turkey bustard is sometimes killed without stalking, as it has a habit, 

 when anyone approaches, of Ij'ing down and concealing itself among long grass, 

 like the grouse and partridge. In this way the hunter gets near enough to kill 

 it with a waddy. In the breeding season no respect is paid to birds hatching. 

 When a turkey's nest is discovered, the great object of the hunter is to secure the 

 mother as well as the eggs ; and, for that purpose, he suspends a limb of a tree 

 across the nest, supported at one end with a short stick, to which a long string is 

 attached. This string reaches to a hole in the ground, which the hunter digs, 

 and in which he sits, covered with bushes and dry grass. When the turkey 

 returns to her nest, and seats hereelf in it, the string is pulled, and she is crushed 

 by the log. 



