AUSTRALIAN FAUNA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18460, 25 July 1923, Page 11

AUSTRALIAN FAUNA.

THE BRITISH EXPEDITION. COLLECTING THE SPECIMENS | A HARD-WORKING PARTY. i • [froh otto own , correspondent.] .' .« | . SYDNEY, : July 18I . A further message; has : been received j from Captain;,;Wilkinßi': F.R.G.S., the j famous. Australian , airman arid explorer, who on behalf o^ ; the British Museum, is making a collection^of Australian animals j and : birds, v a duplicate of ■which will -be i given to the Commonwealth. Writing j from a remote part of South-west. Queensland, Captain Wilkins ann«|unces 'that the work in those parts has ; been completed, and that: the party of. scientists is -about to \ trek for the -York Peninsula, where they will be glad to /escape the frosty nights,: which do, not conduce '■•-to the comforts of camp -life. ;/- 4 Captain Wilkins tells : the ? story /of/ r a ; mysterious midnight visitor on the lonely Moonie. Eiver,H?-«uchV puzzled the party : for ■ many nights/ until, after sitting up by turns to wait for it, one shot it. f "It proved," he says, "to be a huge, great cat- that ; had run wild. > These have become an addition sto Australia's native fauna, /for i they are' found ■in numbers in" many districts, and no doubt: they prey heavily on. the small; birds "and rodents. We have '■■ added ■ to / our •' collection, a r rare specimen in the '. beautifule turquoisine, or chestnut-shouldered '; parrot 1 {Euphi;ma pul- - So / far /as; vie;j have v been i able to ; find out, ■•' this /is ';< the only • one of its ..type that ; has been collected for -it museum purposes for the last : 50 years, 1 and 'it was; thought ;to be extinct until last year a small group was reported to have been seen .-New South Wales.. ///•" At Thomby the few types of ; common birds were much more numerous 1 : than in most _districto, ' and soon after we had established our camp two groups, one of ; grey-crowned ii babblers, / and the other of apostle .birds,' 1 :. came and made their home with us. : The; babblers showed very little breeding / for when their gizzards /were • full of foodstuff from our table they screeched ; and fought with ; vigour, and long . as i they J had an appetite they gulped and swallowed rapidly, without a sound. No time was lost in talking when * the/ food was there. The ", apostle birds were much better mannered t and they /chirped i and chattered at their meals,/ and sometimes one v would ' take» a crump :or ■■. a scrap" of meat and give it to a smaller bird. When their meal s over they would fly/to a Jong, slim ; branch V and ! snuggle, up , s to one (another and preen each other's ; feathers. 'Sometimes the 12 of them /would sit in a row and nestle,up /together." ;': Describing the routine of the expedition, Captain Wilkins says that they manage with * much labour to secure ' a few - specimens each day, and he 1 indicates" that they .work/much' more , than ; the orthodox eight-hour aay. /''We get up at sunrise, ' he ;continues, / arid /pay/ a, v visit/ to the traps / and 'h snares before ',; breakfast, /and! then we hunt; for a' couple of hours "again in the morning/ middle of the day ; is/ spent in preparing the specimens we brought in, and for three or four hours in the >' afternoon •.•>.we>are out in the/field again..; After dinner we prepare the specimens we have collected in the afternoon, i' and ' it-, is i nearly , always /11 p.m./ before we are ready/to/ go to bed. There is much more hard "work than adventure on i this, as well as other expedi- : tions. ■/.. We '"drove.■; thirty \ miles to 'f secure; specimens of / wallabies, and /hads-tb'Vwalk/ many miles through the thick, low scrub before we found them. /; Late in the evening, when we were turning home and very disappointed, •we ; discovered ;• a group /of them, • the ' first we '• had seen, : ; and/ from these we : managed ;to / secure number. Kangaroos, wallabies, and water-rats were the only animals we had found /in these more westerly districts, '/we/ retraced our.steps "1 to Talwood to try to get ■- some opossums." _' '. w