notp:s and exiiihits. G29 



Aborigines were in the habit of periodically burning off portions 

 of the open country to improve the grass lands, the favourite 

 feeding grounds of the kangaroos and wallabies. Soon after 

 Hellyer's exploration the Aborigines were driven away from 

 their favourite haunts, and finally exterminated; and the forest, 

 unchecked by periodical fires, shortly began to resume possession 

 of the pastoral country; so that thousands of acres of " the large 

 tracts of open country as far as the eye could reach," and " the 

 grassy hills of great extent," described in Hellyer's report, were 

 subsequently covered with scrub and timber. 



Mr. North sent for exhibition a set of four eggs of the Plumed 

 Egret, Mesoj^hoyx plutnifera (Gould), with the following note: — 

 " The eggs of Mesophoyx plumifera here exhibited were taken 

 by Mr. Septimus Robinson on Buckiinguy Station, N.S.W., 

 on the 8th November, 1893. Mr. Robinson reported that he 

 found about a dozen or more nests of this species; they were 

 nearly flat, and scantil}'' formed structures of thin sticks and 

 twigs; and were so small that they were almost concealed by the 

 birds when sitting. They were built in gum, or ' Humulung ' 

 {Acacia sp. ?) saplings, standing in water where the Macquaiie 

 River had overflowed its banks, and varied in height from seven 

 to twenty feet from the surface of the water, most of them not 

 being higher than twelve feet, and in some saplings were two 

 nests. Each nest contained four eggs, some being fresh, others 

 well advanced in incubation. The eggs are almost true ellipses 

 in form, the shell being close-grained, with fine pittings, otherwise 

 smooth and lustreless. They are of a uniform pale sea green 

 colour, with here and there scattered over the shell almost 

 invisible white limy-incrustations, and measure as follows : — 

 length (a) 1-82 x 1-32; (b) 1-81 x 1-2; (c) 1-82 x 1-23; (d) 183 x 

 1-29 inches. Last July, through the kindness of Mr. Charles 

 French, Junr., I was enabled to examine a set of three eggs of 

 the Plumed Egret taken by Mr. J. Ross near Mathoura, N.S.W., 

 in November, 1906. They were similar in shape and coloui-, but 

 slightly larger than the specimens now exhibited. Althougli 



