early 10 August, The Lichidn;i\ snout 

 Jus vci y badly damaged, as though 

 il hiid been heavily pecked. In the 

 soft carlh heside the nesi Ihe soil 

 fgi torn about as if there had been 

 a great battle between the l.owan 

 fcfld the bchidna. 



There were no other marks on the 

 fdiidiu that I noliced. but it would 

 [WC been hard to nnd these, unless 

 there were any large scars. 



lime in April last I examined 

 PK Echidna in the bush area, about 

 tl;i lt | mile from this l.owan nest, 

 ami noticed i hat it had the enrl of 

 thf snout damaged, a.s though a 

 spike had gone through and torn 

 the end of "the bill. I wui puzzled 

 nl that time as to how this injury 

 rftllld have happened. 



All I can conclude is lhal die dead 

 l.ehidna we found heside the nesi 

 was killed by the I ©wan. 



I am anxious to hear il any 

 readers can help with more evidence, 

 and whether these two— the l.owan 

 and the Echidna — are natural enem- 

 ies at nesting time. 



When you consider Ihe possibility 

 of H battle between these two. it 

 would only be the Lowan who could 

 be Ihe aggressor, as he is the one with 

 the natural weapons, a strong beak 

 and stout legs with handy lalons in 

 match. This hird, too. must he of 

 great strength and stamina, because 

 of the way he works when building 

 the nesting mound. 



I have seen large dogs in to kill 

 the Echidna, but they always gave 

 up before doing any damage. 



Perhaps the l.owan waits until the 

 Echidna unrolls, and strikes ihe 

 .snout with a strong blow from its 

 beak, thus stunning the aulcater. 



reptiles of victoria - 1 



by Hvns BrsTr 



|ntroi>i i I k cs 

 With the recent publication of 

 P. A. Rawliuson"s revised list of the 

 reptiles of this state, this seems an 

 opportune time to make the readers 

 of this maga/inc more lamiliar with 

 die species which can be found 

 within Ihe boundaries of Victoria 

 Australia is sadly lacking in books 

 which >lc.il wiib the identification of 

 reptiles. 'Ihe works which are avail- 

 able, are mostly out of date 

 (especially with regard to nomen- 

 clature) aid usually treat only 

 vd-.vicd species, or contuse ihe lay- 

 men with descriptions, which become 

 qu.te useless in the field Most of us 



May. 1971 



identify animals with our eyes, and 

 the picture which we get by imagin- 

 ing a species after reading us des- 

 cription, usually looks completely 

 dillerenl from Ihe actual animal. 'Ihe 

 most useful guide is therefore still 

 Ihe one that shows a pholoyraph 

 or drawing, supplemented wilh a 

 description. 



There are in the vicinity of one 

 hundted species of reptiles found 

 within the boundaries of Ihis stale, 

 the distribution of ivhicb is not VCfy 

 well known; and many records are 

 lost ilue lo the inability of the aver- 

 person 10 identify them. This is 

 noi entirely Ihcir fault: but is also 



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