THESE QUEER ROCKS ARE NESTS BUILT BY THE WHITE ANTS (SEE PAGE 504) 



bird, which adorns its nest and decorates 

 its playing ground with shells, seeds, and 

 other bright objects, not despising brass 

 buttons and cartridge cases (page 507). 



The lyre bird, famous for its plumage, 

 is the rival of the mocking-bird of the 

 South in sweetness of tone and skill as a 

 mimic. The crow-shrikes ("magpies"), 

 the brown flycatcher ("Jaeky Winter"), 

 the bush warbler, the rock warbler, the 

 reed warbler, the bush lark, the cuckoos, 

 the honey eaters, and the "Willy-Wag- 

 tail" constitute parts of a bird chorus 

 difficult to surpass. Cockatoos are as 

 common in Australia as ' crows in the 

 Central West ; even in the desert flocks 

 were frequently seen. Some of them are 

 excellent talkers, most of them gorgeously 

 dressed. 



A most surprising bird is the kookoo- 

 burra, or laughing jackass. All at once 

 in the quiet bush come loud peals of up- 

 roarious, mocking laughter. One is not 

 inclined to join in the merriment — it all 

 seems as foolish and weird as if an idiot 

 boy were disturbing a congregation in 

 church. When the source of the laughter 

 is located, it turns out to be a silly-looking 

 bird with clumsy, square body and open 

 mouth sitting unconcernedly on a stump. 

 Some animals look so foolish, say and do 



such silly things, and yet are so patient 

 and friendly that affection involuntarily 

 goes out to them. The kookooburra is 

 one of these and the bird which mocked 

 me at Mt. Gambier, and the solemn little 

 fellow which toddled about the yard of 

 my hostess at Melbourne will long remain 

 in memory (see page 506). 



A BIRD-BUIET INCUBATOR 



The ibis occur by thousands, and the 

 gigantic black-necked stork, or jabiru, 

 standing 5 feet high, inhabits the swamps 

 of the northern coast, while the graceful 

 black swan frequents the estuaries and 

 lakes. The mallee hen and the brush 

 turkey build mounds of sticks, leaves, 

 and earth 3 to 10 feet high. The eggs 

 are laid in burrows excavated in the 

 mound and are left to be hatched by the 

 heat resulting from decomposing vege- 

 table matter — a home-made community 

 incubator. 



The cassowary of the forests of 

 Queensland and Papua and the emu, 

 which is found throughout the continent, 

 are unknown outside the Australian re- 

 gion. The emu is the national bird and 

 shares with the kangaroo the task of up- 

 holding the shield on the commonwealth 

 coat of arms. It is a powerful bird, can 



505 



