on the grass, and covered with it; more heated stones were laid on, and the whole was covered with earth. In this way they were half-stewed. The Murray tribes still use this method. In Gippsland it has fallen into disuse.
The following is a list of some of the aquatic and other birds eaten by the natives:—
Native Name—Lake Tyers. | ||
| Swan | Gidi | Cygnus atratus. |
| Goose | Krangnark | Anseranas melanoleuca. |
| Pelican | Burran | Pelecanus conspicillatus. |
| Common wild or black duck | Wrang | Anas superciliosa. |
| Mountain duck | Karagnack | Casarca Tadornoides. |
| Pink-eyed duck | Koortgan | Malacorhynchus membranaceus. |
| Spoon-bill | Wyang | Platalea flavipes. |
| Musk duck | Bau | Biziura lobata. |
| Wood duck | Naak | Chlamydochen jubata. |
| Teal | Barook | (?) |
| Speckled teal | Koortgang | Anas punctata. |
| Cormorant[1] | Karnie | Phalacrocorax carboides. |
| Shag | Kurrowera | Phalacrocorax melanoleucus and P. leucogaster. |
| Sea eagle | Kang-gang | Polioetus leucogaster. |
| Large gull | Gnoman | Larus pacificus. |
| Small common gull | Tarook | Xema Jamesoni. |
Parrots of many kinds are very numerous in the forests of Australia, and the natives are practised in killing them with the short heavy sticks they carry and with the boomerang. The cockatoo-parrots fly in large flocks. Sometimes at evening one may see hundreds of them high in the air, on the borders of the swamps, flying hither and thither and screaming loudly. They are wary birds, and a sportsman must use great caution in approaching them. In Gippsland the cockatoo (Braak) and parrots of other kinds were not often killed by the boomerang. The natives generally took them when they were sitting on their eggs, or when too young to fly, or when moulting.
Grey gives an animated description of the killing of cockatoos by the boomerang. He says:—"Perhaps as fine a sight as can be seen in the whole circle of native sports is the killing cockatoos with the kiley or boomerang. A native perceives a large flight of cockatoos in a forest which encircles a lagoon; the expanse of water affords an open clear space above it, unencumbered with trees, but which raise their gigantic forms all around, more vigorous in their growth from the damp soil in which they flourish; and in their leafy summits sit a countless number of cockatoos, screaming and flying from tree to tree, as they make their arrangements for a night's sound sleep. The native throws
- ↑ The natives plant stakes in the water, in places where there are no natural resting-places for the shags and cormorants, and when the birds perch on these, they swim quietly up to them and seize them. They also knock them off the branches of the stranded trees and withered stumps on which they sit with sticks or with the boomerang.
