120 IIOKN EXPEDITION — NAUKATIVE. 



IMusgnivc uiul EvLTiircl Ivanyx^s in Suuth Australia, and on the Cavcnagli Range 

 in West Australia, su tliat botanicaljy these may be icgaieled as outliers of the 

 Higher Steppes. 



x\ftcr three days iiard work in the Palm Cret^k we reluetantly returned to the 

 main cam}) as it- was nceess.iry for us to push on towards Alice Springs. Early in 

 the afternoon we reached Ilermannshurg, and the rest of the day was spent in 

 packing up and labelling all the specimens secured. This always occupies a 

 considerable amount of time, and must be done carefully if the animals are not to 

 be .spoilt. Each tish for example must be separately wrajiped up in calico or 

 nnislin or else the lins get broken and the scales rubbed off. 



At Hermannsburg Mr. Keartland had been hard at work amongst the birds. 

 The most important addition made here to the collection was a now species of 

 Xerophila {X. )iigriciiicta) which is distinguished from its close ally, X. pedoralis, 

 found in the Port Augusta district, by the presence of a black instead of a cinna- 

 mon-bi'own band across the chest. Amongst the scrub were a large number of the, 

 popularly called, superb warblers and as usual the dull-coloured females were far 

 more numerous than their richly-coloured nuites, who kept out of sight as much 

 as possiljle as if they were quite aware that their brilliant colouration would make 

 them too conspicuous objects to their enemies for them to be safe in the open. 

 Their rich, sapphire and cobalt-ldue colour siit otF with patches of brown and white 

 and jet black bands render them perhaps the most beautiful of all the birds seen 

 in the scrub. There were three different species to be seen, Ma/iirus iiu'/aiio/us, 

 J\I. laiiiberti and M. Icucopteriis. of which little flocks of the two latter were often 

 found feeding sociably on the same Ijush. 



Here and elsewhere the "cat bird" {Pomatosiomus rubcculus) attracted atten- 

 tion to itself. Its call is a most peculiar one — ^just like the mewing of a cat — and 

 the Ijirds which are very sociable are constantly uttering their cries ;is they jump 

 from branch to branch and perform most curious antics. At Henbury Mr. 

 Keartland watched three birds carrying wool from an old sheep skin to a nest 

 whilst a fourth was engaged in arranging it, so that very likely two pairs 

 nuiy share a single nest. This Ijird was one of the comparatively few ranging 

 southwards into the Central district from North anil North-west Australia. 



The black boys had caught a good number of a connnon mouse which Mr. 

 Waite has described as new under the name of Mus hcr/iuinnslfiiri^oisis. It 

 appears to be very connnon in tiie Missionary Plains and along with it they had 

 also ca})tured two male specimens of Aiitccliinoiitys lani^cr which is one of the 



