Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/235

 which may occasionally afford some amusement to the sportsman of that country; such as snipes, curlews, black swans, pelicans, divers, godwits, red-bills, swamp pheasants, lyre birds, bustards, &c. &c. The Australian snipe differs but little from that of Europe, and it frequents similar localities. The curlews are of a large size, and display that extreme wariness and shyness of man, which characterise that numerous tribe of birds all over the globe. They alight in large flocks on the sand banks in the estuaries of the rivers, and can seldom be shot unless approached from behind the mangrove brushes.

Black Swans frequent the mouths of rivers, and salt lagoons, and are easily shot. During the moulting season the black swans may sometimes be caught by rowing swiftly after them in the secluded reaches, where they remain during that season, for from the loss of their pen feathers they are often unable to fly. After selecting an unfortunate bird, who happens to be in this predicament, the sportsman must follow it closely in the boat, dodging it in every direction, until after an hour's pull, the swan begins to beat the water with its wings, which is a sure sign that it is tired out, and in a few minutes it gives in, and is secured.

The Pelicans of New South Wales, are larger than those of Africa and Asia; they frequent the mouths of the more secluded rivers in the northern part of New South Wales, in immense flocks, which are employed in fishing during high water, and stand