From fat wood hens a good deal of oil can be got,
and this oil is very valuable for almost anything where oil is wanted.
It is sovereign for rheumatics, and wounds or bruises; item for
softening one's boots, and so forth. The egg is about the size of a
guinea fowl's, dirtily streaked, and spotted with a dusky purple; it is
one of the best eating eggs I have ever tasted.
I must not omit to mention the white crane, a very beautiful bird, with
immense wings, of the purest white; and the swamp hen, with a tail which
it is constantly bobbing up and down like the wood hen; it has a good
deal of bluish purple about it, and is very handsome.
There are other birds on the plains, especially about the river-beds,
but not many worthy of notice.
In the back country, however, we have a considerable variety. I have
mentioned the kaka and the parroquet.
The robin is a pretty little fellow, in build and manners very like our
English robin, but tamer. His plumage, however, is different, for he
has a dusky black tail coat and a pale canary-coloured waistcoat. When
one is camping out, no sooner has one lit one's fire than several robins
make their appearance, prying into one's whole proceedings with true
robin-like impudence.
