Amongst the fauna of Australia the distinction between coast and
tableland is not so well marked, most of the well-known species ranging
indifferently over the whole continent. In the kangaroos, differences in
size, colour and appearance can easily be detected in widely separated
localities, but they do not amount to anything very noticeable to the
ordinary observer. The smaller kinds, the wallaby and kangaroo rat, are
common everywhere on the continent. In birds, however, the difference is
great, the seeds and fruit on which some birds exist being only found in
either the coastal scrubs or lowland country, whilst many of the parrots
and pigeons of the interior could not live on the coast. So sharply is
the line drawn in some places, that on the dividing watersheds of the
east coast flocks of galar parrots and plain-pigeons will be found
feeding on the western slope of a ridge, but never by any chance crossing
on to the eastern.
Australia is rich in waders, and they are found all over the continent.
The beautiful jabiru, or gigantic crane, is equally at home in some
lonely waterhole in the far west and at the head of a coast swamp; so,
too, the GRUS AUSTRALIS, or native companion, and the quaint and
rich-plumaged ibis.
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