70 IIOKX KXPEDITIOX — NAKHATIVK. 



witli Lu.ssocks uf grass and scrul) coiuposcJ of Mulgjis, Cassias and ^Vcaeias oi 

 vari(_ius kinds. 



The little iiiicr, which live side liy siile with the Ilapalotis, thrive; just as well 

 as they do, though they ha\'c not taken on the cui'ious niotle of progression 

 adopted hy the hitter and eaii apparently co\er the ground just as rapidly as tlie 

 jerlioa-ra,t ean. As pointed out elsewhere (Part TI., Zoology, p. 41), the advantage 

 of this mode of traAclling would appear to consist not so nuu-h in the greater 

 speed attainable as in the greater diliiculiy which their eneuiies — the Ijirds of 

 prey — prol)aljly find in jiouncing down vi})on and seizing a small animal progressing 

 hy leaps and hounds. The Antechinomys is mainly an inscctivor-ous and the 

 Ilapalotis an hei'hivorous animal, but whilst the latter is to l)e obtained in 

 hundreds it is only very rarely indeed that the former is securt'd, and in fact, 

 though searching in favourable; country, we oidy oljtained tw(j specimens during 

 the Exjiedition. Though far from common, it has however a considerable range, 

 as specimens have been secured at Charlotte Waters, Hermannsburg and Alice 

 •Springs, and it doubtless exists in very small nundjers all through the hard, sandy, 

 Scrub covered Hats of the interior. 



Whilst at Reedy Creek T had a gO(»d oj)portunity of witnessing the tracking 

 p(jwers of the Ijlacks. I was out in tlu; scrub with three of them when suddenly 

 they came to a standstill and after carefully (examining the hard gre^und tlu;y 

 Itecame very excited. On asking what was the matter they toUl me that there 

 was an emu about with six young (jnes. The three then .S(;pai-ated and commenced 

 to track it up. Tlu^y went on a trot the whole tiuK.' ; n(jt a word was sjiolcen but 

 where the sci'ub wa,s thin they couniiunicated with each othei' by signs. After 

 two miles' run, during which it was (juite enough foi' me to do to keep up with 

 th(mi and to lo(jk after my collecting material without troubling to look after 

 ti-acks which 1 c(.iuld not tletect, they came to a sudden halt, and there in an op(;n 

 patch in front of us was the mother emu with its six young ones. The mother at 

 once made oil', but, shouting and laughing, the blacks soon caught the young ones 

 and we brought them back to camp and carried them alive for some hundreds of 

 miles on camel back. The ground was so hard that only an experienced white 

 man would have detectetl the tracks of the old bird, but it did not t.dce the 

 blacks more than a minute's careful examination of the very faint tracks to come 

 t-o the conclusion as to the correct nuudjiu' of young ones. It they had ha,d their 

 spears with them the old bird would certainly have been captured. Their keenness 

 and suppressed excitement when on the track were worth seeing, as well as their 

 childish glee when they were successful. 



