713 



<open plain we found it covered with a thick mass of porcupine 

 grass ( TriocUa ) ; it was so thick that we had difficulty in get- 

 ting the camels to face it. After about five miles of this 

 prickly plant we entered the densest mulga we had yet 

 attempted to penetrate ; it was a difficult matter to find a 

 place clear enough to camp upon. The night was bitterly 

 cold, and everything was frozen hard. Birds were very 

 scarce. A few blue grey-backed Acanfhizas were the only 

 ones found in the desolate scrubs, and this Acanthiza I have 

 described as .4. marianae. At this camping place another 

 new bird was procured in the "Musgrave Flyeater" (Ethel- 

 ornis ciilicivorus musgravi). 



Next day we wound our way amongst the foothills of 

 the Musgrave Ranges, with the main range looming up to the 

 north of us. It was most disappointing country, dry and 

 dismal, hardly any animal life to be seen or heard till our 

 camels climbed over a saddle in an outlying range and we 

 descended into Glen Ferdinand. As soon as we crossed this 

 ridge we found a great change in Nature's face; a wide 

 valley swept down between two high ranges, the surface of 

 the soil was covered with yellow and white blossoms of ever- 

 lastings (Myrioctphcdns stucn^fii), which were 8 to 10 inches 

 high, in spit© of the dryness of the sandy soil. Down the 

 centre of the glen a creek found its way marked by fine red- 

 gums (Eucalyptus rosfrata ). Bird life became at once more 

 plentiful, and a bird was secured which appeared to be the 

 "Grey-headed Honey-eater" (Lichenostomus kertlau(U), but 

 later found it was a much brighter-plumaged species, especi- 

 ally on the throat, where the yellow was much brighter; the 

 ear-coverts were also much darker. Many botanical specimens 

 were taken, and we went into camp a few miles up the glen. 

 The tracks and signs of natives were seen about, but they 

 may have been of some time standing. Our boys would insist 

 tiiat "wild blackfellow a little bit close up." Subsequent 

 events showed this was not the case, and only illustrates how 

 unreliable in such matters the partly-civilized native is. 



As we proceeded north, up the glen, it gradually became 

 narrower; at first great masses of boulders, piled one upon 

 the other, were dotted about like islands, and to add to their 

 beauty many pines (Cnllitrl^ rohusta) filled up the spaces 

 betv^^een the boulders, their thick bluish-green foliage forming 

 a strong contrast to the red granite. At one place some pine 

 pollen, carried on a gentle breeze, bore a deceptive resem- 

 blance to smoke. The glen became narrower as we went on till 

 there was hardly room for the camels to find their way 

 between the ranges on either side of the creek, tiJl at last 

 they had to take to the bed of the creek itself, which was 



