68 A NATURALIST IN TASMANIA ch. 



feathers, but as I did not know how badly the 

 bird might be wounded I followed it up. There 

 then followed a most exhausting chase, clambering 

 over fallen trees and pushing among Tree-ferns and 

 undergrowth, till the Cockatoo's screeches were 

 lost in the mist that was descending over the top 

 of the mountain. He never let me get within shot 

 of him again, and the only other time I was within 

 gunshot range of the bird was when I was driving 

 to Lake St. Clair : my gun and ammunition were 

 packed at the bottom of the buggy, when suddenly 

 in a clearing I came upon five beautiful Cockatoos 

 sitting quite fearlessly on the lower branches of 

 some small Gum-trees and preening their feathers 

 in the sunlight.^ 



A number of streams rise in the plateau of 

 Mount Wellington, some of them attaining a con- 

 siderable size before joining the estuary of the 

 Derwent, and all of them are characterized by the 

 beautiful clearness of their water, owing to their 

 beds being formed entirely of hard greenstone 

 boulders. In the pools of the upper reaches of these 

 streams near the top of the mountain, a very 

 peculiar shrimp-like animal is found, which has 

 been known for some time to the settlers, but it 



^ An unpleasant experience which I had with a pair of 

 Wattle-birds made me unwilling to shoot at the wild birds in 

 the bush. I had shot one of a pair with great difficulty, owing 

 to their shyness, but on going to pick up the fallen bird I was 

 astonished to find that the other refused to fly away, but con- 

 tinued to regard its fallen mate, although I was only within 

 a few feet of it. 



