A Small Species Of Kangaroo, Known As The Scrub Wallaby, Were Sometimes Seen, And Startled From Their Pursuit Of Nibbling At The Roots Of Plants, Upon Which They Exist; But The Scrubs Being So Dense, And Their Movements So Rapid, It Was Utterly Impossible To Get A Shot At Them.

Their greatest enemy - besides the wild black man and the dingo - is the large eagle-hawk, which, though flying

At an enormous height, is always on the watch; but it is only when the wallaby lets itself out, on to the stony open, that the enemy can swoop down upon it. The eagle trusses it with his talons, smashes its head with its beak to quiet it, and, finally, if a female, flies away with the victim to its nest for food for its young, or if a male bird, to some lonely rock or secluded tarn, to gorge its fill alone. I have frequently seen these eagles swoop on to one, and, while struggling with its prey, have galloped up and secured it myself, before the dazed wallaby could collect its senses. Other birds of prey, such as sparrow-hawks, owls, and mopokes (a kind of owl), inhabit this region, but they are not numerous. Dull-coloured, small birds, that exist entirely without water, are found in the scrubs; and in the mornings they are sometimes noisy, but not melodious, when there is a likelihood of rain; and the smallest of Australian ornithology, the diamond bird (Amadina) of Gould, is met with at almost every watering place.

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