19073 Fauna of Australia 



five feet in diameter at the base. Their general 

 aspect is that of the Tasmanian blue gum — Eucalyp- 

 tus globulus — commonly planted in California. The Bilks' 

 bulk of the forest is made up of noble tree ferns with ?^"'' 

 exquisite foliage. Progress through the thickets is 

 obstructed by a very tall grass with long, slender, flat 

 saw-edge stalks disastrous to clothing. Along the 

 edge of the woods grew abundantly the dainty 

 Epacris, beloved of poets, heath-like, with small 

 crimson blossoms. At the little mountain inn I found 

 John Muir's name in the register, and the manager 

 clearly remembered that genial, tireless traveler. 



Time to study Australian animals was lacking, but 

 in the markets I saw something of the fishes, and in 

 the museums somewhat more. I was also much inter- Australian 

 ested in the Australian parrots, of which there are '^'^"°'^ 

 many species — white, white with red trimmings, 

 green with yellow and red; and with some of them I 

 held pleasant converse after my usual fashion, although 

 their remarks were rather sententious and abrupt. 



The strangest of Australian birds is the canbara, a The laugh- 

 great, gray kingfisher — Dacelo gigas — appropriately '^sj<^kass 

 known as the "laughing jackass," and in a way the 

 "national bird," as the wattle — the omnipresent 

 Acacia of many species — is the national flower. The 

 new "bush capital" arising in the uninhabited dis- 

 trict on the boundary between Victoria and New 

 South Wales is called Canbara after that incredible 

 fo\vl. I know of no other creature (barring man) 

 capable of such riotous outbursts, often most discon- 

 certing. During my stay in Melbourne a judge sum- 

 marily adjourned proceedings because of "out- 

 rageous laughter in the courtroom," though the real 

 culprit perched just outside ! 



C 221 1 



