er found them in
swamps. The farthest south they were afterwards met with, was on the
Albert River in the Gulf of Carpentaria, in latitude 18 degrees South,
which gives them a range of six and a half degrees of latitude over the
northern part of the continent. Their nests never came under our notice,
and consequently we are not aware either of the size or colour of their
eggs; neither did we see any young birds during the period of our
observation, ranging from July to November only.**

(*Footnote. Mr. Eyre has since informed me that there is a
whistling-duck, something similar, on the Murray River, but is not aware
that it has the peculiar habit of perching on trees.)

(**Footnote. Mr. Gould, who had previously described this bird
(Leptotarais Eytoni) being desirous of figuring it in his splendid work,
has been furnished with this account.)

EXPLORATION OF THE SOUTHERN BRANCH OF THE ADELAIDE.

August 4.

The southern arm of the Adelaide River, and about fifteen miles near the
mouth of the other branch, still remaining to be explored, I started on
this interesting service the day of the return of Captain Wickham, August
4th. We soon found that the one we ascended promised nothing, from there
being no tidal stream of any consequence; still we hoped to trace its
rejunction with the main branch, but after proceeding in a general South
by West direction five miles, and East-South-East the same distance, it
became so narrow that the mangroves on each side entirely blocked up the
passage, and stopped the boat's progress. I here again felt the
inconvenience of our not being furnished with one of the pendulum
horizons, invented by Captain Becher, R.N.* It being high-water, and as
the shore was lined with an impenetrable growth of mangroves, we were
unable to land. In vain did I try, by cutting down some of them, to find
a rest for the artificial horizon on one of the stumps; they were so
connected with each other beneath the water, by a perfect network of
roots, that although several of the surrounding trees were felled, a
tremulous motion was still conveyed from a distance, and I consequently
lost the observation for latitude.

(*Footnote. I strongly recommend this ingenious invention to every
seaman. In foggy weather it will save hours of anxiety, and may often
prevent the horrors of shipwreck.)

The saltwater arm of the Adelaide we found had another branch, which took
us eight miles in a South-West direction, termina