Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/262

1428 not appear to be able to do this more than two or three times, as far as 1 have observed.

You would be very much amused to see a native climb a tree for an opossum. These savages are particularly expert in detecting whe- ther the opossum or the flying squirrel is in a tree. They examine the bark, and by the freshness of their claw-marks readily tell if the animal has ascended the previous night ; being fully assured of this from the absence of any descending track, they immediately com- mence the ascent : the height of a tree never deters them. With their tomahawk they first make a notch in the bark a step from the ground, deep enough to ensure a support for their great toe ; standing on this, they support themselves with one arm round the trunk, and raising the hatchet above their heads, they cut another notch which receives the opposite foot, and thus they mount our tall Eucalyptus with great celerity in a ziz-zag form. Once among the branches, they soon discover the hole of the animal, which they seize, and either kill and drop to their companions, or tuck under their girdle.

The small blue and buff Kingfisher is similar in its habits to the Laughing Jackass, but frequents the water as well as the land, and its note is shrill. The Red-shouldered Parrot comes from afar, and is here called the "Crimson-wing." The plumage is much the same in both sexes, though the cock is darker on the back ; they are easily domesticated. The bird you call a "Small Bittern" is considered very rare here. I have never seen a second.

There are a great variety and very beautiful specimens of Dragon- flies, particularly of the slender-bodied kind. Of these, though I have caught many, I have never been able to preserve them, for when dry the bodies always break off, and their brilliant colours invariably fade away and turn to a general brown.

Of Spiders there is also an infinite variety, some of them beauti- ful, others hideous. Those of the jumping sort are very numerous, I once was walking in the fields, and kicked over a clod, and in doing so disturbed a large brown spider. It appeared to me as if pitted with innumerable holes of a lighter colour than its general colour, but on stooping down to observe it, I found these supposed dots to be a numerous progeny completely covering the back of the mother. The affection of the spider for its egg-bag and young is very great, but I never before observed it so strong as for the parent to bear the weight of some fifties of sons and daughters on its back. It seemed thoroughly alarmed at being disturbed, but in following the bent of my curiosity I touched it with a stick and directly disturbed all its