BLACK-TAILED NATIVE-HEN 25 
the early morning, riding alongside a channel, one 
might see dozens running along and across the high 
banks or gathered about storage dams. At times they 
mixed with Barn-door Fowls in farmers' yards, 
flicking pert tails and picking up the grains of wheat 
with the best of the Brahmaputras. One, indeed, 
is said to have fought and beaten a rooster double its 
size. 
In Western New South Wales, in areas subject to 
drought which correspondingly blossom as the rose 
directly good rain falls, the Native-hen comes in 
thousands from no one knows where as soon as creeks 
begin to run, to breed and then disappear magically 
when dry days return. I do not think we have had 
them on the Barwon, certainly not in any numbers, 
since 1892, nor do they breed south of the Dividing 
Range. Specimens in the Geelong Museum were 
shot about Connewarre in the early nineties. 
WATERHEN 
Gallinula tenehrosa tenebrosa 
This is quite a local species, and you may find it in 
any one of half a dozen places about Geelong, of 
which I may mention the Barwon River at Ceres 
and Marshalltown respectively. Bream Creek, and 
the Duck Ponds Creek. It might at first sight be 
mistaken for a Bald Cooi but the absence of pro- 
nounced blue in the plumage should enable one to 
