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Nature Notes; 
THE SELBORNE SOCIETT'S MAGAZINE. 
No. 216. DECEMBER, 1907. Vol. XVIII. 
A BUSH EPISODE. 
1 ' was after midday when friend Macdougall and myself 
halted for rest and refreshment at a little wooden 
bridge o^•er a wayside creek. The day was sultry, 
100° F.in the shade, in the bush of Eastern Gippsland ; 
the vertical sun burned us, and no breath of wind stirred among 
the tall, almost shadeless, gum-trees. The only bit of coolness 
was suggested by a patch ot shade under the bridge itself, and 
thither we retired, to stretch ourselves among some green ferns 
which there found roothold, and to discuss a dry lunch ; for what 
should have been a running creek was only a waterless hollow, 
the moister appearance of the bed when compared with the soil 
around indicating that desiccation had only recently taken place. 
Presently, hearing a rustling of dry fronds, we looked towards 
the top of the opposite bank, and saw there in full view the head 
and shoulders of an Iguana, or Lace-lizard (Monitor), the body 
and tail being concealed among the fern. At the same moment 
he detected ns, and instantly became motionless, his head, viewed 
from the profile, being not unlike that of a small crocodile, the 
eye having the same “ dead ” appearance as in that reptile. My 
chum tossed a piece of cheese half-way up the bank, to see if the 
animal would scent it and work down the bank. We watched 
silently for some time, and at length noticed that he was moving 
invisibly— that is, he was lower down by an inch or two than at 
first, although the movement was so stealthy and noiseless that 
the eye could not detect it. Soon a small Bush-Tit (Sericornis) 
spotted the enemy, and rushed recklessly into danger, perching 
on a twig within a foot of the reptile's head, and making there- 
from a great outcry — but his clan gathered not, as usual, to the 
battle-cry ; probably they were taking, in some sheltered spot, 
a siesta in the noontide heat. 
little brown lizard crept out of the green tangle, and came 
forward into the dry creek-bed, a bright-eyed, confident little 
