Abstract
THIS is the record of a long tramp along the course of the Murray River, the author shifting for himself and ‘living on the country’ as he went, though he ultimately joined up with a couple of cattlemen and accompanied them for a time. His observations on the great river and the various human and animal types which frequent it are varied and they are interestingly told, but the book would have been even better than it is had there been more detailed natural history and less reflective ‘padding’. One interesting observation is on the coloration of the ticks infesting the common Australian monitor (miscalled ‘guana’ or ‘goanna’), which are black when adhering to the black areas of the reptile's skin, and yellow when on the pale ground, and this, as the author says, suggests that this adaptive hue, which renders them very difficult to see, means that they have had to protect themselves against removal by other agencies as well as their hosts. Another interesting fact recorded is that domestic cats kept in the wilds bring their kittens fishes as well as other animals, indicating that the animals' well-known fondness for these has its foundation in a natural preying habit.
The Call of the Bush: Wanderings of a Nature Man on the Murray River.
Harold
Priest
By. Pp. 240 + 16 plates. (London: T. Werner Laurie, Ltd., 1932.) 12s. 6d. net.
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The Call of the Bush: Wanderings of a Nature Man on the Murray River . Nature 130, 760 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130760b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130760b0