BULLY, SWAGGERER, SWASHBUCKLER 105 



" GO-BIDGER-ROO ! " 



As the sun shines over the range, the plaintive cooing of 

 the Httle blue dove, such as picked the rice grains from the 

 bowl beside rapt Buddha's hands, comes up from among the 

 scented wattles on the flat, the gentlest and meekest of all 

 the converse of the birds. The nervous yet fluty tones are 

 as an emphatic a contrast to the vehement interjections and 

 commands of the varied honey-eater {Ptilotis versicolor) 

 — now at the first outburst — as is the swiftly foreshortening 

 profile of the range to the glare in which all the foreground 

 quivers. 



Once aroused, the varied honey-eater is wide awake. 

 His restlessness is equalled only by his impertinent ex- 

 clamations. He shouts his own aboriginal title, " Go- 

 bidger-roo ! " " Put on your boots." " Which — which — which 

 way — which way — which way you go ! " " Get your whip." 

 " Get your whip ! " " You go ! " " You go ! " " None of your 

 cheek ! " " None of your cheek ! " " Here — here ! " And 

 darts out with a fluster from among the hibiscus bushes on 

 the beach away up to the top of the melaleuca tree; 

 pauses to sample the honey from the yellow flowers of the 

 gin-gee, and down to the scarlet blooms of the flame tree, 

 across the pandanus palms and to the shady creek for his 

 morning bath and drink, shouting without ceasing his 

 orders and observations. He is always with us, though not 

 always as noisy as in the prime of the year — a cheerful, 

 prying, frisky creature, always going somewhere or doing 

 something in a red-hot hurry, and always making a song of 

 it — a veritable babbler. His love-making is passionate and 

 impulsive, joyous almost to rowdyism. 



Bully, Swaggerer, Swashbuckler 



The drongo shrike is another permanent resident ; glossy 

 black, with a metallic shimmer on the shoulders, long-tailed, 

 sharp of bill and masterful. He has a scolding tongue, and 

 if a hawk hovers over the bloodwoods he tells without 



