Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/117

 traversed an excellent tract of grazing country, consisting of undulating forest land, lightly wooded by blue-gums and apple-trees. In this part, I travelled for many miles without seeing a single forest-oak, (Casuarina torulosa), which forms, almost universally, a sort of underwood to the larger trees of the genus Eucalypti, in the forests of New South Wales; the swamp odk,(Casuarina paludosa), was however very abundant along the water-courses and chains of water-holes, where it seemed to take the place of the brush vegetation, so universally prevalent in the channels of drainage more to the northward, nearer Port Macquarie. I soon passed another sheep-station situated on a gentle eminence. My attention was now drawn to the birds in this part of the country, for since I had left the Manning I had not seen any of the parrot tribe, with the exception of the Rosella or Nonpareil parroquet, a bird extremely common throughout the colony generally, but of which I had never seen a single specimen during the long time that I had been at the MacLeay river. The whistling magpie was in almost every tree, and is also a common bird in Australia generally, but I have never seen it at the MacLeay or Nambucca rivers. A few miles farther on, a fine flat extends to Gloucester, a large agricultural and cattle farm belonging to the Company. The superintendent of this establishment lives in a neat cottage, with substantial offices, and an excellent garden. Having been invited to take some refreshment, I