17 
Vol; i9 X 24 ,V ’ ] MacGILLIVRAY, SJV. Queensland. 
it only once, when the eggs were almost wholly covered with 
sand. 
We left Morden late on the following morning. At about six 
miles out we found a pair of Galahs busily bedding a hollow in 
a gate-post with green gum leaves. Our way led us over gravelly 
country covered with flowering composites, with clumps of 
Whitewood, across sandy ridges on which Mulga was the domi¬ 
nant tree, with Dead-finish, Whitewood, five species of Eremo- 
phila and that fine Daisy Myriocephaliis Stuarti well in flower. 
We arrived at Yancannia Station in time for lunch, and admired 
a fine scarlet-flowering Gum (Eucalyptus erythronema ), a showy 
tree with smooth white stem and gracefully drooping foliage 
with large scarlet flowers all over it. The leaves are small and 
lanceolate. It does better than the Western Australian Red- 
flowering Gum ( E . ficifolia ) in the drier parts of our country. 
We were anxious to push on, and took to the road which led us 
through rankly growing herbage around the end of the fine station 
xvaterhole—the "only permanent natural waterhole west of the 
Darling in this State. The country we passed over was open 
and gravelly, replete with wild flowers, and intersected with 
creeks bordered with Mulga, Belar ( Casuarina ), and Moulie trees 
( Ozvcnia acidula). On sandy ridges there was more scrub and 
under-bush. Birds, other than Galahs, were not plentiful. 
Bootra Station was our next halting-place for a few minutes 
only to get directions as to the road, which from here ran 
easterly towards the Paroo. We ran past the woolshed, where 
preparations were being made to start shearing, passed through 
fairly thick Mulga and cattle-bush scrub, with an under-scrub of 
Eremophilce, and the ground well carpeted with herbage. It 
was not till the scrub opened out that we saw many birds. Short¬ 
billed Crows (Corvus bennetti) were nesting in all directions. 
Wood-Swallows (Artamus cinereus, A. superciliosus, and A. 
personatus) were numerous, with Rufous Song-Larks, Singing 
Honeyeaters, Red-capped Robins, Wedgebills and Chestnut- 
backed Thornhills. We pulled up for a few minutes under a 
Mulga, from which a Wedgebill flew hurriedly. Investigation 
revealed a nest containing three eggs in a bunch of Mistletoe 
( Loranthus exocarpi). As the light was failing we camped on 
a creek timbered with Bimble Box (Eucalyptus populifolia ), re¬ 
markable for its glossy, green, aspen-like leaves. 
Early next morning a Short-billed Crow, whose nest was in a 
Mulga near the dam, woke us with his harsh calling. A Rufous 
Song-Lark sang more pleasantly quite near our camp and not 
many yards away his mate was flushed from her nest, well 
hidden amongst the spinach in the bed of the creek. A Spiny- 
cheeked Honeyeater was tending her nest in a bunch of Mistletoe 
on a Mulga, and accompanied her early morning task with a 
varied and melodious song; she is one of the finest vocalists of 
the bush. A pair of Galahs had been vainly trying to bed a 
