The natives of the island hold the old tradition of the
ancients, that one bitten by a tarantula will dance himself to death.
The plumage of Australian birds is varied and brilliant, and the
natives make pretty fans by arranging the feathers in assorted colors;
while a sort of head-dress worn by both men and women on the occasion
of their marriage, and composed entirely of feathers made into
many-tinted flowers, is a very gorgeous affair. Among the varieties of
birds peculiar to the island are the "lyre-bird" and that known as the
"satin-bower," so called from its glossy plumage, which is green while
the bird is young and jet black at maturity. Before building their
nests these birds gather a large quantity of twigs, weaving them into
a sort of bower, which they tastefully decorate with bones, feathers,
leaves and such other adornments as they are able to collect. Here in
this arena the courting is done, the male bird chasing his mate up and
down, bowing his pretty head and playing the agreeable generally,
while she indulges in all manner of airs and graces, pretends to be
very coy, and acts the coquette to perfection. But her lover's
devotion conquers at last, and in due time the fair flirt surrenders,
yields up her liberty and settles down as a dutiful wife and loving
mother, bringing up a family of sons and daughters, and no doubt duly
instructing them in the part they in their turn are to take in life's
drama. The black swans are not prettier than white ones, but they are
rarer, and when both are floating together over the smooth surface of
those lovely Australian lakes they present a picture of which one
never wearies, see it as often as one may.

[Illustration: FOREST OF FERNS.]

The count de Beauvoir, in describing a hunt of several days, speaks
with enthusiasm of the flocks of wild-turkeys and blue cranes, but
bewails his ill-success in running down the huge emus that stalked
before the hunters faster than their horses could gallop. He
describes also a kangaroo-hunt, and a single combat with an old
kangaroo, grizzled and gray, that in a hand-to-hand fight for a long
time parried all the hunter's efforts to take him, either living or
dead. He was brought down at last by a revolver, and his skin was
carried off as a trophy of victory. The cattle-hunt was even more
exciting, in the wild flight of four or five thousand terrified
beeves, rushing pell-mell through the tall grass or over sandy plains,
stopping occas