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164 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1898. 
Tt is only within a quite recent time that native birds have begun to 
anderstand that there is safety for them in these Gardens so far as safety can 
be secured. ‘To-day three lovely regent-birds disported themselves outside 
‘the office here, and seemed as much at home as if in the pathless woods. A 
beautiful little kingfisher has for some time taken a lease of one of the ponds, 
There he sits on a slender twig, without any apparent interest in anything on 
earth, but let a tiny fish or tadpole show itself for an instant, and then like a 
falling star he swoops diagonally down, and seldom, if ever, fails to return 
with the dainty morsel, and in a moment afterwards is as reposeful and 
indifferent as ever. It would not strike you that here in the middle of a city 
of about 100,000 people there would be much to notice in the way of indigenous 
animals and birds, and yet a good-sized book could be written about those 
that are to be found here and their peculiarities, and they will be mentioned 
from time to time in these papers. 
Can the dwellers in the bush to whom these papers may come, or residents 
of other countries, send us some birds for our aviary? They shall be well 
treated, and have plenty of space almost amounting to freedom; and they 
will give pleasure to thousands, besides enjoying their lives so much more thau 
if immured within the narrow limits of a cage. 
Turn round and walk in the direction of thé shade garden (bush-house). 
To your right hand is a border in which are, besides the palms previously noted, 
some plants of interest. Conspicuous you will notice the plant which goes in 
Queensland by the name of the Breadfruit-tree. Many people hearing this 
mame think that this is the famous breadfruit of the South Sea Islands. If 
is a very different plant indeed. It bears upon the extremity of each some 
what palmlike branch a large fruit, or, to be botanically accurate, a collection 
of fruits grouped together like a pineapple. These have a kind of resemblance 
to a cottage loaf. The Queensland aborigines are fond of the kernels of the 
fruits. They call the tree “Wynnum,” and hence no doubt the name of a 
watering-place near Brisbane. The flowers generally escape observation, bub 
they hang in long clusters, and on a near view are quite beautiful. Bees seem 
to reap a rich harvest from the flowers of several species of Pandanus here, 
judging by the way in which they crowd upon them. As this plant grows 
upward, roots grow from the stems, and those growing downward and outward 
serve as oblique props to support the plant, in exactly the same way as one 
would prop up a wall showing signs of collapse. If you take one of 
these roots before it reaches the ground, you will be very much interested in 
noting how the delicate end is protected by two or three coverings of paper 
like material, which look like so many hats placed on top of one another. Some- 
‘times in this family the centre stem dies away close to the ground, and then 
the roots become the only support, and very quaint they look, these plants, 
standing asif on stilts. You will see the same arrangement in mangroves by 
the margins of tidal rivers. They stand very often above the mud on queer, 
stilt-like roots, sometimes, when the tide is out, seeming like some sea 
monsters come up to have a look around. 
A very beautiful plant of the same family is Pandanus Veitchii, which 
grows quite close by. Itis highly prized in Europe, where it is cultivated in 
“stoves at considerable expense. It grows very well in Queensland, and is, 
besides being very hardy, exceedingly ornamental. It is readily propagated 
by means of offsets, which it produces in great abundance. 
A quaint plant growing quite close by is called Zuphorbia Tirucalli. 1b 
is a dark-green shrub about 15 feet high. You notice when you look closely 
-at it that it has no leaves, and that the stems branch out like those many- 
branched candlesticks which may be seen in some cathedrals. The leaves aré 
‘reduced to mere scales, which soon fall off, but, as the business of transpiration 
