256 
The Birds of TasDumia. 
The Birds of Tasmania. 
By Wesley T. Page, F Z.S., etc. 
(Concluded from page 22.J). 
The Lake District : Mr. Geoffrey Smith describes this 
district as being" 3,000 feet above sea level, and bleak and barren. 
It is used by the stock-owners, as what little t^rass there is 
remains fresh and green when that of the lowlands is all parched 
and dried up, bnt 1 had better fully quote the Author. 
" Whenever Uie sandstone jjre vails among- the lowland hills the 
" country is open, and thinlj- timbered with Gums, Wattles, and Moncy- 
" suckles, with rich grazing land spread out under them; but on ascending 
" the lower tiers the bush becomes thicker, and the unprofitable nature of 
" the greenstone is shown by the vast tracts of unreclaimed forest country, 
" stretching for miles in all directions. The undergrowth in these gum 
" forests is never very dense and there are large upland plains between 
" the tiers covered with coarse sedges; one is at once struck with the 
'■ quantity of Crows and Crow-shrikes that haunt these regions, the Jet- 
" black Crow (Corvits coronoides), whose cry is raucous; the Black Magpie 
'■ (Strepera fitiiginosa), a large black bird with some white tail feathers, 
■■ which is very common here and nowhere else, though it is found rarely 
" in south-eastern Australia; and the \\'hite Magpie with its curious bell-like 
" call. In the forest country, too, large liocks of noisy, inquisitive Miners 
'■ are met with, and the noisy Wattle-bird ( Antliochaera ingiiris), another 
■' of the McUphagidae or Honej'-eaters, is very common in summer time. 
" This extraordinary bird, the largest of the Honey-eaters, being about 
" the size of a pigeon, slaty-grey in colour, and with a very long tail, is 
■■ confined to Tasmania, and receives its name from the yellow fleshv 
■■ pendants which hang down from the ears ; it emits the most extraordinary 
■■ cry of any bird, being comparable to a man drawing a cork out of a 
■■ bottle and then being violently sick.'' 
The Xorth and the West Coasts : The Author states 
that the west coast country exhibits the finest scenery and some 
of the most interesting natural products of the island- The 
principal features are its mountainous character and dense 
forests. 
" The bird-life of the myrtle forests is not nearly so rich as in the 
■■ gum forests, largely due no doubt to the absence of the gum-fiowers 
which attract so many insects and insectivorous birds. The native 
" ■ Robins ' of various species are very- abundant, and I saw liere (Waratah) 
■■ several Pink-breasted Robins, the male of which has the breast of a 
