have the privilege of going up into the topmost boughs of the trees, so that he might from so great a height see better where kangaroos were feeding; and the Mopoke was to have the right to occupy the holes of trees. Thus ended the disputes between the Eagle and the Mopoke.
Mornmoot-Bullarto Mornmoot.
The first hurricanes and whirlwinds were caused by magpies.[1] They were larger magpies than any seen now. They came from the north-west. The number was very great—so great as to darken the air—far exceeding in number the greatest number of cockatoos ever seen on the wing. The sun was hidden when the magpies were passing. Behind the magpies there was a rushing wind and a noise like thunder (Wan-du-bul).[2] A number of bags were seen as the noise like thunder was heard. At first the bags were extended and empty, but they filled as they travelled through the air, and bag after bag burst high in the air, and the noise of the bursting bags was dreadful. Ever after, in certaiu seasons, there came great storms, hurricanes, whirlwinds,[3] and squalls in all the lands where the blacks dwelt.
- ↑ Piping crow—Gymnorhina leuconota. The Australian magpie, as he is seen in the forest, hopping and half-flying, and now and again taking to flight, somewhat resembles the English magpie. His voice is most musical, and at early morning and at night he is active, and his rich notes are delightful. He is easily domesticated, and can be taught to say many words with distinctness. He is not shy. He seems to love companionship with man. He follows the farmer, and takes np his abode near his homestead. But he is pugnacious. In the breeding season the birds will attack any traveller who approaches near to the spot where they have made their nests. They will fly above him, and dart down and strike him on the face or the head with their bills, and unless he is provided with a stick or a whip, they will injure him. Even when domesticated they will fight when provoked. I could quote a number of statements in which the sagacity and courage of this bird are recorded.
- ↑ Ngin-da-bil: Upper Yarra. Drum-bul-a-bul: Western Port.—(See "Language")
- ↑ On a calm day, when the sky is cloudless, and the solar radiation effective, whirlwinds are seen sometimes in numbers. On a wide open plain, at such times, six or seven may be observed at one time. Near tbem yon see the wind carrying upwards all light things, such as dust, leaves, bark, feathers, and withered grass. At some distance away the thin column of dust looks scarcely thicker than a thick rope; it bends slightly to the breeze aloft, but rises steadily and slowly, and at a height of perhaps a thonsand feet the dust it carries is dispersed. A faint yellowish mist, at a great altitude, shows that the dust is being distributed. Whirlwinds of very great violence occur sometimes, but they are not very common in Victoria.
A whirlwind of an unusual character is thus described in the Portland Guardian of the 20th June 1872:—"On Tuesday evening last, about half-past four o'clock, a whirlwind of extraordinary violence, tearing up immense trees by the roots and twisting and scattering branches about in a manner that created the greatest alarm in the district, occurred. A number of people at lunch in the Condah home-station of Mr. C. P. Cooke were first alarmed by a strange rushing roaring noise, and rushed out under the impression that the house was on fire. An eye-witness says:—In coming out of the house, at about two miles distance, I could see the storm coming in a straight line apparently for the house, and immediately the women and children were removed. Its conrse was marked by the falling and crashing of trees, which were torn up by the roots, the trunks in many cases being whirled for thirty or forty yards, and lying about in heaps, whilst the branches and débris were tossed into the air, and carried forward at a great height with singular rapidity. Fortunately, the storm, which kept in a straight line from the south-west, passed about 300 yards to the south of the Condah home-station, and passed directly over the Condah Lake, into which some of the tree limbs of immense size were carried a distance of 400 to 500 yards. But the passing
