NEW SOUTH WALES. 283 



Australian species are said to be confined to peculiar districts, which 

 they only leave on emergency, from want of food, &c. 



Mr. Coxen, near Peuen Beuen, informed our gentlemen that 

 several birds had made their appearance around his dwelling that 

 season, that were not known within a hundred miles of his place 

 before. From the little that is known of the ornithology of the rest 

 of New Holland, it seems that the same general character prevails 

 throughout the whole continent, and there are grounds for believing 

 that there is a complete diversity in the species from those of New 

 Guinea. As an instance of this, it may be stated that none of the 

 paradise-birds, so common in the islands to the north, have been found 

 in Australia; and what appears to add strength to this opinion, is the 

 fact that the land-birds of Norfolk Island are all known to be peculiar. 



The number of parrots that are seen is very great. They usually 

 occupy the tops of trees, and are remarkable for the rapidity of their 

 flight, particularly a green species, little larger than a humming-bird, 

 with which the trees occasionally swarm. Other birds, hardly known 

 to the ornithologist, are also numerous; but Mr. Gould, who is eminent 

 in that department of natural history, is now engaged in making col- 

 lections, and will probably, ere long, give a full account of the habits 

 and economy of the Australian birds. 



The Australian wood-pecker is the famous bill-bird, whose note is 

 always hailed with joy by the traveller in these arid regions, as a 

 sign of the vicinity of water. The sound resembles the click of a 

 stone-hammer, and the effect of the united notes of several, is similar 

 to the frog concerts of our springs. According to Mr. Coxen, each 

 bird utters a single note. 



It was remarked that the native animals of Australia are fast disap- 

 pearing. The kangaroo, once so numerous, is now seldom seen ; but 

 the native dog still commits ravages among the sheep.* Some of 

 the animals which have become rare are preserved in the Sydney 

 Museum ; among these are the woombat (Cheropus), and the Orni- 

 thorhynchus, in relation to which so many questions have been raised. 

 Snakes of many kinds still abound, even in the immediate vicinity 

 of Sydney, whose bite is said to be fatal, and which is, of course, 

 much dreaded. The stories that are related of such poisonous bites, 

 and the dread of them that animals show, make those who wander 



* The natives had never attempted to domesticate the dog, and all of the species found, 

 when the country was colonized, were wild. 



