670 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [^m^. 3, 1908. 



before it took ]ilace. Tlic next and most remai'kable exhibition to an 

 Australian was the collfclion of and the interest shown in i-abbits. I 

 counted 600 cages, most of them containing tliree or four animals, and 

 comprising all the breeds and varieties known — Belgian, Russian, Japanese, 

 etc. — many of them grown to a great size — larger than hares. The judges 

 weighed each animal on the scales, measured ib even down to the lenirth and 

 sliape of its ears, and I wondered what an Australian s(juatt('r wuuld have 

 thought of this section in oiw iJoval Auricultural Show. 



The other sections consisted of pigs, of whifh thcrr were a great number, 

 chiefiv White Yoi'kshire, and cattle, chiefly Swiss ; besides these were 

 manures and agricultural implements, cliielly of English manufacture. Fi-om 

 here we went on to the Natural History Museum and went through the 

 general collections on the three main floors with the ])irector, who explained 

 the plan of arrangement; then returned to the offices and went through 

 injurious lejndoptf'va with Professor Rebel, who, besides being in chai'ge of 

 this Department in the Museum, lectures to the students at the Agricultural 

 Department. 



Next afternoon I left for ]^uda]iest, arriving there the same night, and 

 the following morning met Dr. Horvarth, Director of the lioyal Museum of 

 Hungary, and with Dr. Kertesz, one of the greatest authorities on the Diptera 

 (flies) went through their collections and obtained a great deal of information 

 about the distribution of the fruit-flies, particularly those collected some five 

 years ago in the East by Biro. In the afternoon visited the Central Bureau of 

 Ornithology under the charge of Dr. Otto Herman, who has raised this branch 

 of the Departnaent of Agriculture into one of the best known in the world, 

 second only to the United States Bureau of Biological Survey at Washington. 

 Under this, useful birds are protected, both on account of their insectivorous 

 habits and value as game birds. Exhaustive studies are made on the migration 

 of birds ; and nests are constructed iii large (juantities and placed on the 

 islands in the Danube and distributed among the foi-est guards and inspectors. 

 Through the schoolmasters, literatui-e on the value and uses of birds, and even 

 specimens, are given to the children's school museums. 



W^ith Dr. Horvarth, called upon the Minister for Agriculture (Dr. Daranyi) 

 who is one of the foremost agriculturists in the country, and afterwards went 

 to the Agricultural Museum, whicli is unique in its way, and has the finest col- 

 lection I have seen. It comprises all kinds of agricultm-al implements, all 

 products made in the country, raw products, models, and pictures of all kinds of 

 stock ami methods of dealing with them. It includes all branches of forestry, 

 animals, and birds found in forests, and dead ai\d living fish, the old and 

 modern weapons used in hunting, and the harness and implements used l)y 

 .shepherds, stockmen, and fishermen. Tiie collection is beautifully arranged 

 in a very fine building built on an ai'tificial island, which cost .£50,000 when 

 built as part of the Hungarian E.xhibition. I also visited the city markets, 

 another fine block of Iniildings, wliere ever}' kind of product is sold, from 

 'flowers and fiuit to the curious curly haired Hungaiian pigs, lambs, and 

 fish — the latter alive in tanks. All the orange-; in the market behjnged to 



