varied notes. The blue kingfisher is investigating the tumour made by
white ants in the bloodwood wherein the nest is annually excavated, and
soon the chattering notes of the pair will be heard. A week ago few signs
of the approach of the scene-shifter were discernible. He has come, and
plants and birds respond to his genial and becoming presence--plants with
richer growth and more abundant flowers, birds with the unreflecting
gaiety of nuptial days.




BEACH PLANTS



"Remove the vegetable kingdom, or interrupt the flow of its
unconscious benefactions, and the whole higher life of the
world ends."--HENRY DRUMMOND.


Strolling on the curving footway of broken shells and coral chips marking
the limit of the morning's tide, a vague attempt was made to catalogue
the plants which crowd each other on the verge of salt water, and so to
make comparison with that part of Australia the features of which
provoked Adam Lindsay Gordon to frame an adhesive phrase concerning
bright scentless blossoms and songless, bright birds. Excluding the
acacias and eucalypts, said to have given sameness to the scenes among
which the exotic poet ranged, a long list might be compiled; nor will the
pleasant sounds of the afternoon be set down in formal order to the
vexing of his memory, for possibly he never heard the whoop and gurgle of