THE WOMBAT. 



side, as it was only occasionally that I could get away from 

 the business which occupied my time, and devote a few hours 

 to ornithology ; however I will endeavour to compensate for 

 this by adding a few notes on some of the birds gleaned from 

 my own experience in other parts. 



As far as the distribution of bird-life is concerned, the 

 portion of Victoria under consideration may be roughly divided 

 into three parts according to physical configuration, which 

 here, as elsewhere, determines the nature of the fauna. 



First we have the gravelly country round Bendigo, 

 Tarnagulla, and other auriferous centres, covered, as it generally 

 is now with a more or less dense growth of young eucalypts and 

 wattles affording shelter, and forming a congenial feeding ground 

 for numbers of honey-eaters, and scrub-loving birds which find 

 their living in such places. 



Next we have the open plains country almost destitute 

 of trees, and with scarcely an elevation as it stretches north- 

 ward to the Murray, but more undulating, and covered with 

 a light growth of timber along the Campaspe, and across to 

 the Goulburn. As may be easily conceived, bird life does not 

 luxuriate among such surroundings ; larks and plovers on the 

 plains, and parrakeets, and cockatoos in the more favoured 

 portions with some members of the hawk tribe in both are the 

 characteristic forms of this division. 



Lastly, we have the Kerang district with its lakes and 

 swamps, the country bordering the Murray with its lagoons, 

 shallows, and reedbeds forming a veritable paradise unequalled 

 in any part of the colony for aquatic birds of all kinds. 



In order to facilitate description I purpose treating of the 

 various forms met with, as far as possible in their natural 

 order, as arranged by the leading British authorities on birds. 

 The largest of all the orders will then be taken first viz ; the 

 Passerines, commencing with that well known bird the Crow. 

 Both species were pretty common throughout the district, and 

 were found breeding from August to December, their nests 

 being almost everyday occurrences. The white-winged chough 

 (Corcorax melanorhamphus ) was seen in numbers near 

 Tarnagulla, along the Campaspe, where they were breeding 

 in October, and among the small gums in the swamps on the 

 N.S.W. bank of the Murray at Murrabit. The spotted bower 

 bird (Chlamydodera maculata ) is to be found in the mallee 

 country near Lake Charm, but time prevented me from devot- 

 ing my attention to this interesting bird. The oriole (Oriolus 

 viridis) betrayed its presence by its cheerful liquid notes being 

 heard in the timbered country near the Mt. Pleasant range, 

 and was also noted along the Murray and around Bendigo. 



Two finches were noted ; the Australian finches belong 

 to the division of those birds known as weaver finches, which 



