340 BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF GEELONG 
behind me and began my first voyage of discovery 
in a delightful bushland : which I felt sure was crowded 
with strange and beautiful birds, so that my blood 
ran high with excitement and my ears listened intently 
for the slightest new sound. I passed through some 
thick timber, and came suddenly upon a square 
clearing, site of the home of some settler of the fifties 
who must have been burned out. There were just 
the faint outlines on the ground to show where the 
blocks had been, a few crumbling bricks from the 
fallen chimney, and, sole living witness of human 
habitation, a dense growth all around of furze bushes 
and scented geraniums. 
And just as I took in the scene I heard and then 
saw the new birds, four of them. They hopped 
from gum boughs to furze bushes, they flew back to 
high branches, and let me hear their strange note, 
which from that day I have always mentally com- 
pared to a stone falling into underground water with 
a singularly cheerful " plop." Never," said I, " have 
I seen such lovely birds. I will call them Saffron- 
birds." And so I did, and that is what they still 
are in my mind, though never, I think, have I told 
anyone of it till now ; finding out later, as I did, that 
I was not their first discoverer by some ninety years. 
However, the birds were new to me, and that is the 
chief thing when one is twelve years old. 
I found an old nest or two in the furze bushes, 
but nothing more, as my feet burned for further 
explorations and I plunged deeper into the wood- 
