J. Cassidy—Australian Bird-Beauties



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The fine and really beautifully primrose-coloured wattle, the

colouring of the bill and the eye, the fascinating pink of the legs and

the contrasting colours of the plumage add to its distinctions. Black

and white, cinnamon and purple, are enhanced by the brilliant yellow.

It is decidedly one of the most charming of the Plover group.


We now concern ourselves with the Natores :—•



Order natores. Family anatid^. Genus chenopis.


One of the most ornamental birds of the Natores Order is the Black

Swan. It is a noble-looking creature. It is found in the Southern

and Western districts of Australia.


The writer’s attention was first attracted to it on the occasion

of a memorable visit to the beautiful and well laid out public gardens

of the King’s Park, at Perth, Western Australia. There, in an ideal

setting, these ornamental and rare birds (since the genus is strictly

confined to Australia) are seen to advantage. The magnificence and

variety of the gaily-coloured flowering gum-trees (Eucalypti), the well-

kept lawns, the delightful lake and the bluest of blue skies, enhanced

by brilliant sunshine afford a perfect setting for the black plumage,

touched with white, of the graceful creature. .


In the year 1698 (240 years ago) there occurs in a letter written to

Dr. M. Lister by a Mr. Witsen this record : “ Here is returned a ship,


which by our East India Company w r as sent to the South land called

‘ Hollandia Nova and the writer goes on to tell that Black Swans,

Parrots, and many Sea Cows were found there. It seems that twenty-

eight years later two Black Swans were brought alive to Batavia from

Dirk Hartogs Bay, on the West Coast of Australia.


The Black Swan has been mentioned many times in literature, but

very little has been written of its habits. On rivers, estuaries of the sea,

lagoons and expansive pools of water over the whole of the southern

portion of Australia, the islands of Bass’s Strait and Tasmania, large

flocks running into many hundreds of these interesting birds flourish.

Neither the boisterous winds nor the aborigines disturb the birds.

Regretfully we must admit the sad truth that the most deadly foe



