the effect as it stole along through the thick
bushes in the morning twilight was very striking. I could not succeed in
getting a shot at it; but, as I was determined to have a meat breakfast,
I desired Mustard to cook the crane, the rats however had eaten the
greater part of it; we therefore at once moved on and, after travelling
four miles in a south-east direction over good land, we reached a valley,
the largest and best I had yet seen, containing trees and birds such as
we had not before met with; kangaroos were more plentiful, and, for the
first time, we saw the opossum. The valley was more than a mile in width
at the point where we first made it, and we had but just time to cross it
and to gain the partial shelter of some rocks when heavy rain again set
in. We could keep no fire and, being soon wet through, passed a wretched
night.

December 21.

We all today began to feel the want of food; since Sunday night we had
subsisted on nothing but rice and tea, and only in very small quantities
at a time, as the heavy rain had materially interrupted our cooking. As
there was plenty of game in this valley I determined to halt for a day
previously to my return to the party, for the double purpose of exploring
the valley and of shooting game.

CUCKOO-PHEASANT.

The large bird which was the most abundant here was the Cuculus phasianus
or pheasant cuckoo. This bird in colour, in length of tail, in its size,
and general appearance so closely resembles the hen pheasant of England
that, when it is on the wing, it is almost impossible to tell the
difference; its habits and food are also identical with that of the
English pheasant. The chief point of distinction is that its toes point
two before and two behind, in the same manner as those of a parrot; but
what is very remarkable about this bird is that, although, like the other
Scansores, it delights in climbing and running up trees, it is equally
fond of running along the ground in the manner a pheasant does.

SPORTING.

This day I found plenty of these birds in a cover of long dry grass and
bushes about half my height. From this kind of ground I descended to deep
lagoons in the bottoms, with rushes, reeds, and dense tropical vegetation
around them, amongst which the bamboo and pandanus bore a conspicuous
figure; as I beat this cover the pheasants, with their whirring noise,
rose on all sides of me, and my Westley Richards was kept in constant
operation. I never enjoyed a