47 o 
NEW SOUTH WALES 
CHAP. 
country I scarcely saw a place without the marks of a fire 
whether these had been more or less recent—whether the 
stumps were more or less black, was the greatest change 
which varied the uniformity, so wearisome to the traveller’s 
eye. In these woods there are not many birds; I saw, 
however, some large flocks of the white cockatoo feeding in 
a corn-field, and a few most beautiful parrots ; crows like our 
jackdaws were not uncommon, and another bird something 
like the magpie. In the dusk of the evening I took a stroll 
along a chain of ponds, which in this dry country represented 
the course of a river, and had the good fortune to see several 
of the famous Ornithorhynchus paradoxus. They were diving 
and playing about the surface of the water, but showed so 
little of their bodies, that they might easily have been mistaken 
for water-rats. Mr. Browne shot one : certainly it is a most 
extraordinary animal ; a stuffed specimen does not at all give 
a good idea of the appearance of the head and beak when 
fresh ; the latter becoming hard and contracted. 1 
2,0th .—A long day’s ride to Bathurst. Before joining the 
high road we followed a mere path through the forest; and 
the country, with the exception of a few squatters’ huts, was 
very solitary. We experienced this day the sirocco-like wind 
of Australia, which comes from the parched deserts of the 
interior. Clouds of dust were travelling in every direction ; 
and the wind felt as if it had passed over a fire. I afterwards 
heard that the thermometer out of doors had stood at 119°, 
and in a closed room at 96°. In the afternoon we came in 
view of the downs of Bathurst. These undulating but nearly 
smooth plains are very remarkable in this country, from being 
absolutely destitute of trees. They support only a thin brown 
pasture. We rode some miles over this country, and then 
reached the township of Bathurst, seated in the middle of what 
may be called either a very broad valley, or narrow plain. I 
was told at Sydney not to form too bad an opinion of 
1 I was interested by finding here the hollow conical pitfall of the lion-ant, or 
some other insect: first a fly fell down the treacherous slope and immediately 
disappeared ; then came a large but unwary ant; its struggles to escape being very 
violent, those curious little jets of sand, described by Kirby and Spence ( Entomol . 
vol. i. p. 425) as being flirted by the insect’s tail, were promptly directed against 
the expected victim. But the ant enjoyed a better fate than the fly, and escaped 
the fatal jaws which lay concealed at the base of the conical hollow. This Australian 
pitfall was only about half the size of that made by the European lion-ant. 
