Page:The Emu volume 4.djvu/17

 As showing their distinctness, it may be mentioned that from Mogumber to the Mission Station (a distance of 15 miles) the nature of the soil was gravelly, forested with "jarrah" (E. marginata) and "red gum" (E. calophylla) trees. From the Mission Station for another 10 miles eastward granite overlaid with gravel prevailed, with forests of "York gum" (E. loxophleba), "jam" (Acacia acemurata), and "sheoak" (Casuarina); then succeeded a sandy plain covered with low, dwarf vegetation and isolated clumps of dwarf Murray pine. Then the red soils began to appear, and with them belts of gimlet gums (E. salubris), then another plain, more extensive, covered as before; next further strips of red soil and gimlet gums; afterwards a narrow, depressed tract of sandy, saline marshy country, resembling an old river bed, studded with salt and brackish lakes; and at last the Wongan Hills themselves, composed of conglomerate, with deep red soils at their bases clothed with gimlet, salmon, and morrell gums, quandongs, sandalwood, hibiscus, and high and low-growing scrubs.

As already mentioned, the ocean influence is apparent on the vegetation for some 15 miles beyond the Mission Station, and the place where such influence no longer operates is well indicated, and in one particular place already mentioned the coastal vegetation became absolutely dwarfed, and a few yards farther on purely inland forms at once appeared. As might be expected, the avifauna was almost as strongly marked. As we had, when leaving Mogumber, a walk of 50 miles ahead of us, we determined not to collect on the way, but to push on with all speed to our destination and to make full observations on a leisurely return. Therefore, I purpose dealing first with the local species at the Wongan Hills and then backwards to Mogumber. At the Hills such species as Sericornis brunnen, Acanthiza uropygialis, Malurus pulcherrimus, Drymaœdus pallidus, Hylacola cauta, Cinclosoma castanonotujn, Ptilotis novæ-norciæ, Ptilotis cratitia, and Misocalius palliolatus were, so far as our observations went, purely local. Digressing, it may be remarked that there the genera of Rhipidura and Petrœca were unrepresented, and that consequently such familiar forms as Rhipidura tricolor, R. preissi, and Petrœca campbelli were missed. Glycyphila albifrons was present at the Hills and further westwards towards Mogumber for 10 miles. It then suddenly disappeared, as also did a tall inland form of Grevillea which bore long spikes of yellow bloom, and which at all times seemed a source of great attraction to the species. The range of Malurus leucopterus began with the depressed saline area at the base of the Hills and extended westwards for about 20 miles, but the species was only found in the depressed area mentioned and the sand plains which were sandwiched in between the red soils and gimlet gums. Malurus splendens appeared only when the plains were passed and when nearing the Mission Station. The lines of demarcation between the three last-named species could not have been more clearly