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196 aside his cloak, so that he may not even have this slight covering to impede his motions, draws his kiley from his belt, and with a noiseless, elastic step approaches the lagoon, creeping from tree to tree, from bush to bush, and disturbing the birds as little as possible. Their sentinels, however, take the alarm; the cockatoos farthest from the water fly to the trees near its edge, and thus they keep concentrating their forces as the native advances; they are aware that danger is at hand, but are ignorant of its nature. At length the pursuer almost reaches the edge of the water, and the scared cockatoos, with wild cries, spring into the air. At the same instant the native raises his right hand over his shoulder, and bounding forward with his utmost speed for a few paces, to give impetus to his blow, the kiley quits his hand as if it would strike the water; but when it has almost touched the unruffled surface of the lake, it spins upwards with inconceivable velocity and with the strangest contortions. In vain the terrified cockatoos strive to avoid it; it sweeps wildly and uncertainly through the air, and so eccentric are its motions, that it requires but a slight stretch of the imagination to fancy it endowed with life, and with fell swoops is in rapid pursuit of the devoted birds—some of whom are almost certain to be brought screaming to the earth. But the wily savage has not yet done with them. He avails himself of the extraordinary attachment which these birds have for one another, and fastening a wounded one to a tree, so that its cries may induce its companions to return, he watches his opportunity, by throwing his kiley or spear, to add another bird or two to the booty he has already obtained."

Amongst the parrots most commonly taken the following may be mentioned:—

Small birds of various kinds, which feed on the blossoms of the honeysuckle (Banksia), are caught by the natives living in the Mallee scrub in the following manner. A hole is dug in the ground sufficiently large to admit of a man's sitting in it comfortably, and over it is built a mia-mia of green boughs and twigs. In front a number of small sticks are stuck in the ground slantingly and crossing each other. The native, having provided himself with a thin stick, furnished with a running noose of fine cord at the end, takes his seat in the hole, and imitates the chirping of the birds. After some trouble, he secures one, and he uses this as a decoy, fastening it by a cord to one of the long slanting sticks. It attracts numbers by its cries, and the native cautiously ensnares one after the other with the loop, until he takes perhaps three hundred