Page:The Emu volume 4.djvu/178

 of Hakea having leaves up to 3 inches long, shaped and pointed like porcupine quills, and growing at all angles) and also highgrowing, weeping prickly mimosa bushes. The formation of the country is a depressed area of very rich red clay soil cut out of the high, extensive sand plains. Bird-life was plentiful everywhere, particularly the smaller Passerines, owing, undoubtedly, to the excellent protection and security afforded by the "prickly reminder" and mimosa scrubs. In them the birds, nests, and young were at all times absolutely safe from their natural enemies, Hawks, Crows, and Butcher-Birds, for they could not possibly follow their quarry there. These bushes, however, are not regarded favourably by sheep-farmers, as they destroy the fibre of the wool of the sheep as they pass by and under them. Obviously, an accompaniment to the progress of settlement will inevitably be the decimation of smaller birds. The object of our trip was successfully accomplished, but the results can only be generalized. Many species were found to be common in all three places—that is to say, the Wongan Hills proper, Yandanooka-Ebano, and Pindar-Day Dawn. Others, again, were present at the first and second, the first and third, and, again, the second and third. Some were peculiar only to one or other of such districts. Even to tabulate the results would occupy more space in this journal that I could reasonably expect to have allowed. They, therefore, must be reserved for a special work on distribution.

Briefly stated, we were able to fix (tentatively, of course) the southern limit of Ptilotis carteri, Xerophila castaneiventris, Malurus assimilis, Sphenostoma cristatum, Tæniopygia castanotis, and Calopsittacus novæ-hollandiæ, and the northern limit of Ptilotis ornata. Such forms as Ephthianura tricolor and E. aurifrons, Acanthiza robustirostris, A. tenuirostris, Amytis gigantura, Calamanthus campestris, Manorhina {Myzantha) lutea, Climacteris superciliosa, and Cinclosoma cinnamomeum, which were found at Pindar-Day Dawn (80 miles north), were not present at Yandanooka or at the Wongan Hills. On the other hand, such forms as Licmetis pastinator, Calyptorhynchus stellatus, Calopsiitacus novæ-hollandiæ, and Ptilotis carteri, found at Yandanooka-Ebano, were not found at either Pindar-Day Dawn (northward) or at the Wongan Hills (southward). Again, Malurus pulcherrimus, Cinclosoma castanonotnm, Drymaœdus pallidus, Hylacola cauta, and Calamanthus montanellus, found at the Wongan Hills proper, were not found at either Yandanooka-Ebano or at Pindar-Day Dawn. Acanthiza uropygialis, A. pallida, Malurus leucopterus, Glycyphila albifrons, and many other species, were common at all three places. Ptilotis plumula was found at Wurarga, near Day Dawn, and at Cadgee Cadgee, but that may be accounted for by the fact that each place is in the "mulga" belt. Mesocalius palliolatus was found at Day Dawn and also at the Wongan Hills proper, but, strange to say, not in the intermediate Yandanooka district. At Yandanooka-Ebano Malurus assimilis, M. splendens, and M. leucopterus were found, the first-mentioned two occupying the same feeding-grounds.