y
in the morning under the tree, scattered on the ground. This is
beautifully white and delicate, resembling flakes of snow.

Honey is procured by steeping the cones of the Banksia or other
melliferous flowers in water. It is procured pure from the hives of the
native bees, found in cavities of rocks, and the hollow branches of
trees. The method of discovering the hive is ingenious. Having caught one
of the honey bees, which in size exceeds very little the common house
fly, the native sticks a piece of feather or white down to it with gum,
and then letting it go, sets off after it as fast as he can: keeping his
eye steadily fixed upon the insect, he rushes along like a madman,
tumbling over trees and bushes that lie in his way, but rarely losing
sight of his object, until conducted to its well-filled store, he is
amply paid for all his trouble. The honey is not so firm as that of the
English bee, but is of very fine flavour and quality.

White ants are dug in great numbers out of their nests in the ground,
which are generally found in the scrubs. They are a favourite food of the
natives in the spring of the year. The females only are used, and at a
time just before depositing their eggs. They are separated from the dirt
that is taken up with them, by being thrown into the air, and caught
again upon a trough of bark.

The eggs of birds are extensively eaten by the natives, being chiefly
confined to those kinds that leave the nest at birth, as the leipoa, the
emu, the swan, the goose, the duck, etc. But of others, where the young
remain some time in the nest after being hatched, the eggs are usually
left, and the young taken before they can fly. The eggs of the leipoa, or
native pheasant, are found in singular-looking mounds of sand, thrown up
by the bird in the midst of the scrubs, and often measuring several yards
in circumference. The egg is about the size of the goose egg, but the
shell is extremely thin and fragile. The young are hatched by the heat of
the sand and leaves, with which the eggs are covered. Each egg is
deposited separately, and the number found in one nest varies from one to
ten.

One nest that I examined, and that only a small one, was twelve yards in
circumference, eighteen inches high, and shaped like a dome. It was
formed entirely of sand scraped up by the bird with its feet. Under the
centre of the dome, and below the level of the surrounding ground was an
irregular oval hole, about eighteen i