715 



.and niaiu stems.. Several specimens of the southern ''Yellow- 

 fronted Honey-eater" /'-Z^/c/?c-/zo,«^o///«5 pli/nni.his etheJae) were 

 found amongst these trees. Going slowly back through the thick 

 mulga, a small party of Blue-vented Parrots was flushed from 

 the dry grass; the birds were very shy, and only one was 

 obtained, the others flew like arrows away for miles. 



At last we reached the native well, and collected there 

 for a few days. Upon Mr. Jack's return he reported seeing 

 a small pigeon, which, from his description, appeared to have 

 been the ''White-bellied Plumed Pigeon" (LophophajJs 

 .plumifera hucogaster). A few wallaby skins were added to 

 the collection. Som.e strange and interesting native paintings 

 were seen and photographed, as well as a small cave which had 

 been used for ceremonial purposes. It was decorated with 

 paintings inside, and around the entrance numerous fires had 

 been lit. Down the ledge of rock, in front, a mass of 

 dried blood was adhering, which had every appearance of 

 being human, and our boys said it was so. 



We left this fine well on a south-westerly course towards 

 the Everard Range, which could be seen in the dim distance. 

 The first day we passed through a mulga and grass country, 

 with rocky outcrops occurring very frequently. This class 

 of country was decidedly poor and dry; very little was col- 

 lected, and we camped amongst a vast mass of dead mulga. 



Next day passed through dead mulga, and at 3 p.m. 

 ■entered in between two high ridges ; a large fire was seen out 

 on the low country, showing we had entered upon the natives' 

 district, and that there w^as water in the locality. Our leader 

 took W^illiams and Bob, with two camels, and struck out 

 north-westerly to examine a soak and rockhole in the heart of 

 the ranges. Mr. Jack and party, in returning, struck our 

 tracks and reached camp after dark, stating they had found 

 a rockhole containing about 100 gallons of water, and from 

 tracks they had seen they were sure that a native with his 

 wife and one child were camped near the water, but hearing 

 the white party approaching had made off. Mr. Rogers 

 reported having found a freshly-built bower birds' play- 

 ground in a deep gorge not far from our camp. 



Next morning we paid it a visit and saw a beautiful 

 male "MacDonnell Yellow-spotted Bower Bird" (Chlamydera 

 maculata macdonnelli). Photographs were taken of the 

 iDower, which was neatly constructed beneath a native figtree, 

 with a large heap of bleached snail-shells and a smaller one 

 of green solanum berries outside the entrance. We passed 

 great masses of rounded granite, quite destitute of vegeta- 

 tion, but in the cracks and gullies wild figs and other shrubs 

 grew. On the southern aspect of some of these masses of 



