8 RUDOLF SÖDERBERG, STUDIES OF THE BIRDS IN NORTH WEST AUSTRALIA. 
The taxidermist had been working at Nooncanbah. Therefore the ornithological 
collections had been made especially up here. I myself brought along with me about 
a hundred preserved birds, nests, or eggs of species that had more local extension. 
On MJÖBERG's proposal the taxidermist and I, on the 30th of April, made 
a journey to the interior of the Meda-distriect, north of Derby (3 on the map). This 
region was comparatively the best supplied with water we had hitherto visited. 
Meanwhile the time had now come, when apparently, as a rule, expeditions ought to 
be undertaken in this country, and therefore the conditions generally were more 
favourable than before. At so-called »>billabongs», collections of water remaining 
after the rains and without escape, there was a wealth of bird-life, the same species, 
(Y. LAURELL phot.) 
Fig. 3. Fitzroy river at Christmas-time (after the first rains). We cross the river with a raft. 
however, as I already knew. After a good harvest we returned to Derby, where we 
arrived on the 5th of June. | 
Here we waited for a steamer, which took us to the little town of Broome 
(S” on the map), situated a little south of Derby on the coast of Dampier. From 
here WIDELL and I once more undertook a 5 days” yachting trip to Beagle-bay in the 
north part of the peninsula (3 on the map) at a Roman Catholic station, where 
we lived from the 26th of June to the 27th of July. The country was interesting, 
and our collection of birds was largely augmented. (For the natural conditions see 
the following chapter.) 
On the 3lth of July we saw Broome again. On the llth of August, 1911, we 
all went aboard of the steamer that brought the expedition back to Perth (Freemantle) 
in South West Australia. Our stay in North West Australia had lasted 10 months to 
a day. 
