77 [page number] 
[May 28-29 th ] cleared paddocks were MAGPIES 
That was all in the bush (except 
for BLACK-BIRDS and RED-BROWED FINCHES on 
Mt [Mount] Sabine) and at Ball's Dam I 
stopped for a cup of coffee. SWANS, EASTERN 
SWAMPHENS, LITTLE + HOARY-HEADED GREBES 
and hundreds of SWALLOWS - no duck, 
no gulls. 
7.7.49 The previous evening - during a week 
spent in Melbourne - I had spent with 
C.E.Bryant. Also present was a young 
enthusiast Bruce Amos who has a very good 
knowledge of birds and who has been 
carefully tutored by Bryant to be cautious [guess] 
in identification and in all things ornithological. 
We had a very pleasant chat - about 
people and birds and places. I asked 
at the end how one went crake-hunting 
(Bryant and Amos are the two people who 
know most about these birds in Australia) 
and Amos suggested I go out with 
him next day. He had an injured 
hand and was "off-work" indefinitely. 
