256 



and erratic course. If, therefore, the natives cannot get a clear 

 shot at them within 30 yards they rarely throw the weapon. To 

 enable them better to get at this game they constantly burn 

 large patches of the "spinifex" grass, which is one of the most 

 easily ignited substances, green or dry. It is only necessary to 

 drop a few sparks into a tussock, and the sturdy plants will soon 

 flare up with a crackling noise, the flames rapidly spreading 

 before the breeze. 



About the ranges and granite-hills on the nortliern margin 

 of the Victoria Desert great numbers of rock wallabies {Fetrogale 

 lateralis) are found that are well protected by the many shelters 

 in the fissures of the rocks and the cavities underneath them. 

 These animals are very shy during daytime, and run quickly 

 along the ledges and crags when they are disturbed, disappearing 

 from sight with astonishing rapidity. Towards night, however, 

 they leave their shelters more leisurely to feed on the surround- 

 ing ground, their favorite feeding-places being often indicated 

 by well-beaten paths leading towards them. Soon after sunset 

 and during tlie short twilight they hover about the rocks, 

 sitting upright and brushing tliemselves in the warm air, which 

 is at this time radiating from the rocks that have been heated by 

 the sun during the day. During this time they may be more 

 easily approached, and without much difficulty stalked to within 

 spear's throw. In many places throughout the country and par- 

 ticularly near some of tlie rocks, brushwood fences are found tliat 

 serve, or have served, the purpose of trapping game. These fences 

 are about two feet high, and simply made of broken-down shrubs 

 and branches of trees, mainly mulga, and converge to an angle 

 after extending for a long distance over the ground. Sometimes 

 they are over half a mile long and no doubt have been erected 

 for the purpose of having the animals driven into for a final 

 battue at the angular portion. Near the rocks I have seen them 

 constructed in a zigzag shape, with a self-acting trap at the apex 

 of the angles furthest away from the rocks. This trap is simply 

 a squarely dug hole just outside of the brush-fence about 18 

 inches wide and four feet deep, with almost vertical sides, which 

 is sometimes lightly covered with a few thin branches. At the 

 inner side of the fence a piece of rock about six inches high is 

 placed a few inches from the hole, and a bar consisting of a stout 

 sapling is laid across the corner on top of the fence above the 

 stone. The latter contrivance seems to be intended partly to 

 hide the hole and partly to make the game jump the stone and 

 tumble into the hole, from wiiich it cannot escape. The noctur- 

 nal habit of the rock-wallabies is here taken advantage of, but 

 probably at times the game is also driven into tlie traps. (See 

 pi. 19.^, 



