Feb., 1922 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
6t 
A few hundred yards away stands a patch of myall 
trees ( Acacia pcndula ), where at breeding-time bird-life is 
very plentiful; and. as I hunt about for the larvae of the 
beautiful little butterfly Ogyris Amarylis . the Magpie- 
Larks raise their warning cry. Various Wood Swallows, 
too, utter cries of distress as I look into a nest built in a low 
fork in the trunk of the tree, and find either young birds or 
eggs. High up in thin boughs a Miner has its nest, and 
further on hangs a neat, compact nest of one of the larger 
Honey-eaters. A tiny red and black bird! flutters in that 
bunch of mistletoe, but its home is not to be found. Now 
the harsh note of the Crow is heard as he flies overhead — 
the hated and evil one of all birds, for whom no bushman 
has time or sympathy. 
If it be a time of drought, sheep rendered weak by 
starvation fall an easy prey to the black demons, whose 
wings flap the animals* heads till they fall in stupor to the 
ground, when one or both eyes are the toll. Or if the sheep 
in its weakness seek the most boggy part of the dam — and 
what weak sheep does not? — again there is the forfeit of 
the eyes. When performing Nature’s duty of bringing 
forth young the ewes are unable to rise owing to wet, heavy 
fleeces, &e. — and who in the bush has not seen the horrors 
performed by the black bird, both on mother and offspring 
— bodies torn open while life is still very strong ! Granted 
the Crow does good in helping to keep down the fly pest, 
it is also partial to the farmyard eggs and chickens. 
But why dwell on the sordid side ? For one bird whose 
ways are detestable there are one hundred others for whom 
nothing but affection can be felt. The bush indeed would 
be a drab place without them. 
0 
INSECTS OF THE WATTLE-TREES. 
By R. Illidge, Bulimba. 
Insects that affect the various species of Acacia are 
very numerous, all orders being well represented. 
Lepidopterous larvae, particularly amongst the moths, 
feed on the foliage and flowers, and in the stems and roots 
many, of very large forms, such as Xyleutes, exist for a 
considerable time, doing such damage as to greatly weaken 
the tree. In the smaller branches and stems of trees of 
moderate size, Xyloryct lame {Maroga, Cryptophasa, and 
others) make burrows, some ringbarking round the part 
t Mistletoe Swallow, Dicceum hint ndinaceum. — Eds. 
