Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/221



Australian field-sports—Kangaroo-hunting—Curious mode of shooting the Pademella, or brush-kangaroo—Dingo hunt— Emu chase—Varieties of Quails in New South Wales; very abundant north of Port Macquarie—Varieties of Australian ducks—Duck-shooting—Geese and moor-fowl—Brush-turkeys—Very good for the table—Their extraordinary mode of constructing their nests—Large size of the eggs, which are hatched by the heat generated by vegetable decomposition—Pigeons—The Wonga-wonga-Its habits—Very difficult to shoot—Peculiar delicacy of its flesh—The flock-pigeon of the brushes—Easily shot—Bronze-wing pigeon—Black pigeon—Fruit pigeon—Its brilliant plumage—Doves—Spur-winged Plovers—Snipes—Curlews—Black Swans—Curious method of chasing them in a boat—Pelicans—Quantity of oil contained in them—Divers, Godwits, and Red-bills—Swamp Pheasants, Lyre-birds, Bustards—Snakes of Australia almost all venomous—Description of the different species in the colony—Peculiar action of the poison of the generality of Australian snakes— Account of the symptoms experienced by the author from the bite of a large snake at the MacLeay in 1841—Treatment under which he recovered—Description of a curious salt-water snake of the genus Hydrophis, killed in Tryal Bay in 30 50' S.—Extreme poison of sea-snakes exemplified by two cases—The Aborigines of the north-eastern part of the territory, vary considerably in some of their habits from those to the southward and westward—The more circumscribed limits roamed over by each tribe—Abundance of indigenous food for the native population in the north-eastern districts—