March, 1923 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
21 
soo)i flies off, preferring to keep to the higher boug'hs. 
Two dolhirJbirds liave howvi over. Theirs is an amniiisical 
note and the'ir colouring (piito out of the ordinary. One 
lonely jackass sits on the rose-trellis^ a study in sobriety, 
but should any insect move below, then let it beware. The 
s'parrow.s and starlings of coui'se are to be seen, but of 
these I know little. I love onr own native birds best, 
their lives seeming to be (it may be fancy) so much higher, 
freer, and sweeter, than those of the imported birds. Pro- 
tect the birds? aye, indeed! They have enemies enough. 
With the closer Mettlement the dingo has gone b-aek thus 
leaving the goaniia to increase, kept down only in some 
districts by the poisoning for crows o'f dead sheep, but be 
is a fatal enemy to our birds, stealing both eggs and 
young. One instance of which I Was told lately was seen 
by an eye-witness. They were camped for dinner, eating 
their aandwiche's of beef and damper when from across 
the river came cries of distress from a hollow limb in a 
big gum tree. Two white cockatoos immed''ately 
a]^])C'ared, screaming, and flapping their wings. Pre- 
sently from out the hole crawled an immense goanna, 
dragging with him a half-ffeilged cockatoo. The re]mated 
attaebs of the parent birds pre.sently caused the reptile 
to release its hold, the young bird falling to the ground, 
when a little later the goanna followed to recapture and 
devour h's i)rcy. Interference by the onlookers was 
impossible as tlie river was then running a strong cur- 
rent. 
The domestic eat gone wild is anolhei' set back to 
bird life. Wliat numihers of birds do they devoiiir, and 
the young ones have no ho])e of escape. The quiet old 
squatter i)igeon, which at one time was so numerous, is 
now almost a bird of tile P^st — in the Central District 
at least. O-n the Downs the fox is fast demolishing the 
homely [ffain turkey, their remaining on the ground at 
night making them an easy victim. They are, of course, 
■afraid of dogs, but J once v'atcluxl one show fight to 
our sheep dog, who evidently Avas only on for a play, 
or may be thought tlm bii’d ehould Ije yardtul up! It was 
early morning and qii te close to the garden fence. Am 
afraid that turkey evoiitually landed iu the o\'en ! Where 
fruit is groAVU for sale, the birds if destroying it, must be 
kept down. Or often o'ut in the back country, wlliere 
little fruit is grown, and that little precious, it is neces- 
sary to keep the birds in check. 1, myself, Iiave been 
.guilty ’of the death of many a pink-crested bower-bird. 
