35 deg.
and long. 138 deg., I had also observed that several birds of the same kind
annually visited that Province from the north. I had seen the Psittacus
Novae Hollandiae and the shell paroquet following the shoreline of St.
Vincent's Gulf like flights of starlings in England. The different
flights at intervals of more than a quarter of an hour, all came from
the north, and followed in one and the same direction.
"Now although the casual appearance of a few strange birds should not
influence the judgement, yet from the regular migrations of the
feathered race, a reasonable inference may be drawn. Seeing then that
these two lines (viz., from Fort Bourke about lat. 30 deg. and long. 144 deg. to
the W.N.W., and from Mount Arden in lat. 35 deg. long. 138 deg. to the north)
if prolonged would meet a little to the northward of the tropic, I
formed the following conclusions:
"First, that the birds migrating on those lines would rest for a time at
a point where those lines met.
"Secondly, that the country to which they went would resemble that which
they had left, that birds which frequented rich valleys or high hills
would not settle down in deserts and flat country.
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