Page:Dawson - Australian aborigines (1900).djvu/107

Rh harmless—and then taps on the roof to let his friend above ground know its position; a hole is then sunk, and the wombat dragged out. Should the burrow be under a layer of rock, the hunter lies quietly above its mouth, and, when the wombat comes out after sunset to feed, he jumps into the hole and intercepts the frightened animal on its retreat to its den. The flesh of a fat wombat is considered very good to eat. No use is made of the skin. The bear, or 'sloth bear of Australia,' forms a substantial article of food; and it is easily discovered by the hunter, as it does not hide itself in holes, but sits all day long in the fork of a tree. On a native ascending the tree, it gradually climbs for safety to the top of a branch so slender that it bends with its weight. As the climber dare not venture so far, he cuts the limb, and with it sends the bear to the ground. But, as nature appears to have given tree-climbing animals immunity from injury from falls of even hundreds of feet, the bear immediately scrambles up the nearest tree, unless someone is ready to secure it. No use is made of the skin of the bear. The emu, the turkey bustard, and the gigantic crane are stalked by means of a screen made of a bunch of plants held in front of the hunter. The plant used is the shepherd's purse, and a bunch of it is indispensable to every hunter on the open country, where branches of trees are not easily got. The hunter, concealed from view behind this screen, creeps up towards the game, and carries exposed to view as a lure a blue-headed wren, which is tied alive to the point of a long wand, and made to flutter. When the game approaches to seize the bait, it is killed with a waddy; or it is caught with a noose fixed on the point of the wand, which the hunter slips over its head while it is trying to catch the wren.

The turkey bustard is sometimes killed without stalking, as it has a habit, when anyone approaches, of lying down and concealing itself among long grass, like the grouse and partridge. In this way the hunter gets near enough to kill it with a waddy. In the breeding season no respect is paid to birds hatching. When a turkey's nest is discovered, the great object of the hunter is to secure the mother as well as the eggs; and, for that purpose, he suspends a limb of a tree across the nest, supported at one end with a short stick, to which a long string is attached. This string reaches to a hole in the ground, which the hunter digs, and in which he sits, covered with bushes and dry grass. When the turkey returns to her nest, and seats herself in it, the string is pulled, and she is crushed by the log.