The Emu. 
51 
6 o'clock. Many things interesting were noted during the four 
hours' journey. The scrub itself was beautiful, having evidently 
been refreshed by recent rains. The Mallee (eucalypt) leaves 
wore a bright golden-green hue, relieved here and there with 
crowns of yellowish flowers. Occasionally patches of tea-tree 
(M. wilsoni), with stems and branchlets ablaze with lovely lilac 
blooms, were come across, not to mention a hakea with cream- 
coloured flowers, a grevillea in scarlet, and other plants. 
The principal birds noted w^ere the beautiful Purple-backed 
Malurus that was seen in the morning ; two Pardalotes — 
P. ornatus and P. xantJiopygitis ; the White-eared Honey-eater, 
and the rare Wattle-cheeked Honey-eater {Ptilotis cratitia). 
A nest of the latter, containing a pair of eggs — an oological 
prize — was discovered in a hakea bush, from which the female 
was flushed. A Bell Bird's {Oreoicd) nest, with eggs, was also 
observed, likewise other Mallee denizens, such as the Red- 
throated (Gilbert's) Thickhead, Red-rumped Tit {Acanthiza 
pyrrJiopygia), besides several families of W^hite-browed Babblers, 
which made curious chattering calls as they darted off through 
the bushes. In the densest portion of the scrub a Mallee Fowl's 
egg-mound was discovered. An examination proved it had not 
been used by the birds since last season. It was a fair-sized mound. 
A practical suggestion arose out of this hurried but interesting 
scrub outing. Could not a combined party of ornithologists 
from Melbourne and Adelaide meet for a week's camp-out to 
investigate the birds of this peculiar district ? Nhill being about 
half-way between the two termini, and where the express trains 
cross each other, a meeting might easily be arranged. The 
Mallee is indeed a peculiar district. Why are several of its 
species adorned with conspicuous rich red or chestnut-coloured 
upper tail coverts ? — to wit, Cinclosoina castanonotiiin (Ground 
Bird), Dryinacediis bruiineopygius (Scrub Robin), Hylacola cauta 
(Ground Wren), and Acanthiza pyrrhopygia (Red-rumped Tit). 
After a most pleasant drive in the gloaming, during which a 
Bronzewing Pigeon was flushed from the wayside, and a single 
Freckled Duck was observed on the water of a crabhole pool, 
the party arrived at Nhill about 8 o'clock. 
Dr. Ryan, knowing that a social meeting — the presentation of 
the tennis championship trophies — was to take place in the 
town that evening, arranged that it should also hear Mr. D. Le 
Souef's popular lecture on Australian birds. The additional 
attraction packed the meeting, and by the aid of an optical 
lantern, kindly loaned and manipulated by the Rev. A. Perkins, 
a capital evening was spent, as attested by the fact that the 
audience did not break up till 1 1 o'clock. Two and a half hours 
later the visiting ornithologists were in the express whirling 
home to Melbourne. This w^ayside excursion most pleasantly 
ended the inaugural gatherings of the Australasian Ornith- 
ologists' Union. 
