466 



CHARLES DARWIN 



which varied the uniformity, so wearisome to the traveller's 

 eye. In these woods there are not many birds; I saw, how- 

 ever, some large flocks of the white cockatoo feeding in a 

 corn-field, and a few most beautiful parrots; crows, like our 

 jackdaws were not uncommon, and another bird something 

 like the magpie. In the dusk of the evening I took a stroll 

 along a chain of ponds, which in this dry country represented 

 the course of a river, and had the good fortune to see several 

 of the famous Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. They were 

 diving and playing about the surface of the water, but 

 showed so little of their bodies, that they might easily have 

 been mistaken for water-rats. Mr. Browne shot one: cer- 

 tainly it is a most extraordinary animal ; a stuffed specimen 

 does not at all give a good idea of the appearance of the 

 head and beak when fresh; the latter becoming hard and 

 contracted. 6 



20th. — A long day's ride to Bathurst. Before joining the 

 highroad we followed a mere path through the forest; and 

 the country, with the exception of a few squatters' huts, was, 

 very solitary. We experienced this day the sirocco-like wind 

 of Australia, which comes from the parched deserts of the 

 interior. Clouds of dust were travelling in every direction; 

 and the wind felt as if it had passed over a fire. I after- 

 wards heard that the thermometer out of doors had stood at 

 119 0 , and in a closed room at 96 0 . In the afternoon we came 

 in view of the downs of Bathurst. These undulating but 

 nearly smooth plains are very remarkable in this country, 

 from being absolutely destitute of trees. They support only 

 a thin brown pasture. We rode some miles over this coun- 

 try, and then reached the township of Bathurst, seated in the 

 middle of what may be called either a very broad valley, or 

 narrow plain. I was told at Sydney not to form too bad an 

 opinion of Australia by judging of the country from the road- 

 side, nor too good a one from Bathurst; in this latter respect, 



<• I was interested by finding here the hollow conical pitfall of the lion- 

 ant, or some^other insect; first a fly fell down the treacherous slope and 

 immediately disappeared; then came a large but unwary ant; its struggles 

 to escape being very violent, those curious little jets of sand, described by 

 Kirby and Spence (Entomol., vol. i. p. 425) as being flirted by the insect's 

 tail, were promptly directed against the expected victim. But the ant 

 enjoyed a better fate than the fly, and escaped the fatal jaws which lay 

 concealed at the base of the conical hollow. This Australian pitfall was 

 only about half the size s>f that made by the European lion-ant. 



