v°i. XXIV. -| CHISHOLM, Ycppoon-Byfield Excursion 225 
been overlooked, or in the reaching of which by walking much 
time would have been occupied. 
Byfield is a district placed on the map by a scattered com¬ 
munity of fruit farmers. Viewed from one of the mountains 
by which it is backed, the settlement is on a plateau eight or 
nine miles from the sea, and bounded on the west by more 01 
less fortuitous mountains, perhaps a thousand feet in height at 
most. The northern railway line lies west of these hills. Viewed 
more broadly still, the whole area is practically the base of the 
peninsula created by Broadsound, below Mackay. North from 
Broadsound the coast falls eastwards with some sharpness, a fall 
that is stressed further north again, with Port Denison as a base. 
This means, of course, that Byfield is much further east, longi¬ 
tudinally, than the rich bird-fields of Cardwell and Cairns, the 
jungle of the locality, however, is not as rich as that of those 
northern areas, nor as that of the Macpherson Range and its 
spurs, in Southern Queensland. But as the district has^a mean 
annual rainfall of 70 inches, a very fair growth of “brush coveis 
the tops and sides of the Byfield hills and strays down about 
the fringes of the several creeks that wind their way through the 
plateau to the sea. The plateau itself—really an undulating low¬ 
land — is covered with typical forest timber and grass-trees. No 
cultivation of this land has been attempted, the farms being con¬ 
fined to the sides of the hills (where a good deal of scrub has 
been sacrificed) and odd areas beside the creeks. 
Altogether, then, the indications were that the area would 
provide an interesting field as between tropical and sub-tiopical 
forms. A merging-point was looked upon as a possibility, but, 
in view of the fact that the coastal range falls a\Vay west at this 
point (becoming a mere depression somewhere near Jeiicho, on 
the western railway) the idea was entertained that a miny dis¬ 
tinct line of demarcation would be set up. It remains be seen 
what opinions on these points accrued from our few days ob¬ 
servations. Possibly some readers will gain an idea oU the ques¬ 
tion from a perusal of Mr. Wolstenholme’s list; th e piesent 
article is merely general and introductory. 
It was a happy circumstance to discover, on initial anival at 
camp, that three species of birds were nesting in the tiees ovei- 
head. A pair of Blue-faced Honeyeaters had one of 1 ien owl J 
pretty basket nests (they frequently appropriate the obi nests or 
other birds) swinging aloft in a big eucalypt; a phlegu iatlc . °k r_ 
mouth was sitting unobtrusively beside its babes in a lies / 111 ^ 
same tree; and Forest Kingfishers had a nest in a terniR es ni°und 
close by. These species give a fair idea of the cla$ s ot . luls 
noted in the open forest generally. One of the larger Catei pillai - 
eaters (Bdoliisoma tenuirostris) daily uttered its curious, cncket- 
like call in some eucalypts a stone’s throw from the * but 
there were few other birds of the sunlight that called 01 P a, “ 
ticular attention. The Sun-Bird, alas, had fallen a wa 7 aftei 
