July, 1925- 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
31 
decay, still leave zones of weakness. There are three in 
my specimen (0.133 in, wide), and it is further segregated 
out by the medullary rays, winch average 0.20in. apart; 
so that the Avoody strands are not only rather loosely 
held together, but divided into segments, like the strands 
in a rope. The isolated fibro-vasciilar strands further 
help the Avoollying out, and the armour-sheathed bast 
riug holds all together, till it scrubs like a coco-nut husk. 
The only other woods tlie timber-gefttu-s fancy, and 
these in a secondary degree, are yielded by the grass- 
1]-ees and treeferns, in both of which the Avoody fibres 
are isolated. The only hardAvood they find is of any use 
is that of Banksia. (T think it is B. integrifolia, that being 
■commonest on our mountains.) 
Now in wet Aveather these woody fibres shrink. If 
you’ve ever had to turn out of your warm bed on a wet 
night by a tAvanged and parted tent-rope you’ll appre- 
ciate this iwoperty, or if you’ve had to coil down a wet 
cable. The result is the contracting fibres snap Avith the 
grinding friction, and the brake-block goes to pieces. 
Like the policeman’s, the timber-getters’ lot is not 
ahvays a happy one. 
0 
BIRDS OBSERVED DURING THE NATURALISTS’ 
CLUB CAMP OUT AT 
CAMP MOUNTAIN, MAY 2-4. 
(By W. B. Alexander, M.A.) 
During the two days spent in the locality, 47 species 
were identified. The birds seen in the forest eountr.A^ and 
the cleared paddocks Avere mostly the common species of 
the district, and it is not necessary to enumerate them. 
The most interesting Avas a Crimson Rosella or Lory 
(Platycercus elegans), a bird I have not seen so near 
Brisbane before. A great part of the country is fairly 
thickly covered Avith lantana, and the thickets of this ob- 
noxious plant seemed eA*eryAvhere to contain Coachwhip 
Birds (Psophodes olhmceus), whose notes Avere constantly 
heard. 
