THE WOMBAT. 55 



the yellow-robin, the white-eyebrowed woodswallow, and the 

 bronzewing pigeon. Reaching Lome at about half-past ten, 

 I fixed my camp on the St. George, where it took an hour or 

 two to repair the damages my clothes had sustained on the trip. 



I did not exert myself much looking for specimens during 

 my stay on the coast, partly because the intense heat took 

 away all desire for exertion, and partly because, being by 

 myself, it was hard to summon up enthusiasm for long walks. 

 Most of my time was spent at little nooks on the creeks 

 watching the birds. On the St. George I noted only the wax- 

 bill, chough, welcome swallow, little black cormorant, white- 

 breasted cormorant, spotted pardalote, blue crane, fairy 

 martin, and bristle bird. The last-named bird used to be 

 very abundant here a few years ago, but this year there was 

 only a rare one to be heard at intervals. I do not think I 

 heard a dozen individual birds after I reached the coast. I 

 had expected that the fires, having burnt so large a part of 

 the forest towards the Otway itself, would have made the 

 birds, especially these lovers of the scrub, very abundant 

 indeed in the unburnt parts ; as they seemed much scarcer 

 than usual, the only conclusion I could draw was that instead 

 of being driven out from the burnt parts, they must have 

 been destroyed. 



The choughs always evince a decided preference for the 

 hill tops, in the forest at all events, being almost confined in 

 this neighbourhood to the hill on the Erskine, immediately 

 above the township. Perhaps this is due to the proximity of 

 a large orchard which grows on the slope of the hill. The 

 cry of the chough resembles that of the red lory, and of the 

 rosella to some extent. It is known locally as the " jay." 

 The white-shafted fantails were not nearly so abundant as in 

 previous years, and the blue wrens, though in great numbers, 

 also seemed scarcer. The waxbills, however, were as thick 

 as always. On a Scotch thistle near the creek I saw a great 

 number of small beetles of a vivid glossy blue, which moved 

 in short, quick flights, like those of a grasshopper. These 

 have been kindly identified for me by the Rev. Thos. 

 Blackburn as Haltica pagana, Blackb. 



The evenings being rather lonely on the St. George with 

 no companion, I shifted my tent to the Erskine after a couple 

 of days, so as to have some one to talk to in the evenings. 

 The camping ground here is very good, though rather public ; 

 it is well sheltered and level, with abundance of good water 

 at a little distance. An occasional azure kingfisher was to 

 be seen on the creek, with a few mudlarks (Grallina picaia) 

 here and there. There were also several mountain thrushes 

 which frequented the water's edge, just below the wall of 

 blackberries ; they were very quiet and tame. So indeed 



