366 TlMEHRI. 
sky ; heavy masses of clouds lay on the horizon above 
the trees ; while below, from the burning grass of the 
savannah, great lurid sheets of flame at times rose up as 
though in sudden fits of passion. Against such a scene, 
the next morning was of its kind almost a matchless 
contrast. The rising sun lit up the glistening, dew- 
covered savannah, where irregular patches were bathed 
in a white changing mist ; across the creek, the red sky 
shone, reflected as from a burnished mirror in the water, 
and the mucco-mucco island in the front lay with its 
counterpart below, all seen with a bright and glorious 
sheen streaming through the trees. On the left bank, 
the savannah lay bathed with dew, for all the world like 
an inland lake, but being gradually dissipated by the 
touch of dawn. 
A day was spent at Tiger Island in order to hunt the 
district. For this purpose, the JEta. swamp was ranged 
by the huntsmen and the dogs, while a boating party 
went a little distance along the creek. The district was 
said to be too dry for game, and all that the huntsmen 
brought back was a large " Mahooka" or horned 
screamer (Palamedea cornuta) — a bird about the size 
of a very large turkey, with a horny string or whip-like 
appendage at the back of the head, and with two large 
and formidable spurs on each wing. These birds, to 
judge by their curiously loud clanging cry in the morning, 
are common all along this part of the creek ; but this 
specimen was the only one obtained. 
The boating party had a somewhat exciting time 
with a school of broad-tailed otters or " water-dogs" 
(Pteronura sandbachii) , which were met with between 
the pumping engines of Plantations Bath and Blair- 
