NOTRS AND EXHIBITS. 489 



Thorpe at HorosUy in June, 1886. To show the scarciU? of this 

 species of recent date, Mr. A. S. Le Souef, Director of the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens, Sydney, had informed him that, on 1 4th J*'eb- 

 ruary, 1914, he paid the sura of £7 to a local bird-dealer, for the 

 last living example in the possession of the Society; and that this 

 was disposed of a few months later to an aviculturalist at the 

 same figure. Many factors contribute to a decrease of bird-life 

 in Australia, but the prime cause is the introduction of foreign 

 mammals and birds. In the attempts to eradicate rabbits and 

 foxes, it has, at a low estimate, cost the country many hundreds 

 of thousands of pounds, and likewise a corresponding loss of 

 bird-life. This is due to the birds partaking of poisoned baits, 

 laid for rabbits, and the wholesale destruction of ground-frequent- 

 ing birds by the wily fox, an introduced scourge, which is rapidly 

 increasing in numbers and extent of range ov^er the eastern half 

 of the Australian Continent. 



Mr. Musson and Mr. Fletcher exhibited a few botanical speci- 

 mens from three localities close to the boundary between the 

 Counties of Cumberland and Cook, of interest because the 

 localities mentioned approximate to the western limit of some 

 coastal species, and to the eastern limit of some Blue Mountain 

 species. (a) Acacia (jlaucescens, Persoonia oblongata, and Sty- 

 pandra glauca, growing in company by the roadside between 

 Wilberforce and Sackville Reach (County of Cook). (6) Ango- 

 phora cordifolia, Greinllea buxifolia, Lasiopetahim Bauei^i, Acacia 

 ttnnervata, Bucalyptus eximia, Persoonia oblongata, Grevillea 

 muc7'onulata, and Stypandr'a glauca, from the summit of a ridge 

 overlooking the Hawkesbur\^ at Sackville Reach (Count)^ of 

 Cook). On the southern, sheltered aspect of this ridge, there 

 was, formerly, a very interesting, semi-brush plant-community, 

 of limited extent, now reduced to a narrow fringe on each side 

 of the road. (c) Persoonia lanceolata, Grevillea buxifolia, G. 

 punicea, and G. mucronulata growing in company by the road- 

 side, on the Wiseman's Ferry Road to Windsor, between Ma- 

 rootta and Cattai Creek (County of Cumberland). The district 

 indicated is rather inaccessible for visitors, except by motor-car, 

 but botanically very interesting. The time available was far too 

 short for anv satisfactory collectinic- 



