Voi.xxiv. -1 CHISHOLM, Yeppoon-By field Excursion 221 
lUZu* J 
first, for the geese alone. They were wary, and when some eager 
observers waded towards them, rose with a clamour of wings. 
Soon the sky was full of flying forms—a sight to quicken the 
pulse of a bird lover, and make his eyes gleam with pleasure. A 
rare and beautiful moving picture, of wild birds at home, birds 
“new” to most of us, at least in such numbers. To the South¬ 
erner, it seemed worth the long, weary journey from Melbourne 
to Rockhampton. For in Victoria, the Magpie Goose is as a tale 
that is told. Its old haunts, on the Murray lagoons, or the most 
of them, know it no more. Here, in Central Queensland, and 
not many miles from a city, it was wonderful to find the Pied 
Goose in flocks, safe from the sportsman’s gun. A noble bird, 
standing alone, in flocks on the wing it is glorious to behold. 
That quiet morning on the shores of Goose Swamp, a morning 
of sunshine when tree shadows lured, will keep green in memoiy 
for years. The swamp, with its lilies and lesser flowers, it.s 
bird life, and the glamour of sunlight over all, is a deeply etched 
picture, and cannot soon fade. The geeae had for neighbours 
Whistling, Plumed Whistling, and Grey Ducks, Coots, Mooi- 
hens, and Grebes, and other water-loving species. But in beauty 
their rivals were flocks of Marsh Terns ( Chlidonias leucopareta ), 
which circled about and among them, and perchance had nested 
in the swamp. 
The Yeppon-By field Excursion 
By A. H. CHISHOLM, C.F.A.O.U., Sydney. 
It has to be said for the R.A.O.U. that the three excursions 
held in Queensland have been pleasant and instructive in then 
diversity. That of 1910 was to the islands of the Capricorn 
Group. That of 1919, prefaced by a visit to Stradbroke Island, 
Moreton Bay, was to the beautiful Bunya Range, in the neai 
south-west of the State. And for further diversity of inteiest, 
the spot chosen for examination after the 1924 congress was 
Yeppoon, on the coast of Central Queensland, with a camp-out. 
following at Byfield, a semi-isolated and little-knpwn distric 
some 25 miles to northward. 
The party included almost all the members who attended the 
congress. In addition to those whose interests were primal i ) 
ornithological, it comprised half a dozen well-known entomo o- 
gists, but it was regrettable that no botanist was present; sue i a 
naturalist would have been thoroughly recompensed by ie 
outing. - * 
Yeppoon was reached early in the afternoon of October zi. 
small township some 35 miles from the central city, it lies beniiK 
an excellent expanse of hard, sandy beach, with a semi-circle o 
hills backing the settlement and reaching away sporadically noi i 
and south. Originally, these hills were largely jungle-clad, hi 
