24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



he walked on from tree to tree. He soon stopped and beckoned, 

 so I moved up to where he stood, and he then whispered that he 

 had seen' its tail above the small ferns and bushes, but had not liked 

 to fire. Just then one of the birds, either the male or female, poked 

 its head out of some bushes, but as we kept perfectly still it did not 

 notice us. Directly after, the male ran out with his tail folded, and 

 passed along on a sort of pathway, running straight in front of us. 

 My companion tried to fire, but somehow could not do it ; in despair 

 I snatched the gun from him, and fired just as the tail of the bird 

 disappeared over a rise in the ground, and a splendid specimen was 

 lost. We afterwards heard another bird, and saw it pass along the 

 hillside below us, travelling at a quick pace, hopping over logs and 

 impediments, and every now and then giving its peculiar whistle, 

 but it was out of range. 



Before leaving Melbourne I was told that these birds were fast 

 dying out, but this does not appear to be the case, judging from 

 the numbers I saw and heard. The tail of the male bird is of some 

 value, fetching 7s. 6d., consequently a good number of birds are 

 destroyed ; 'but they are now protected by law during the breeding- 

 season. Dogs are sometimes employed for hunting them, and are 

 trained to keep the bird in the tree into which it has hopped, by 

 continually barking at it. 



Later on,' when on a visit to a valley in the Blue Mountains of 

 New South Wales, known as the " Weather Board," I s^w a Lyre- 

 bird run across a little gully, and I heard several when in the 

 Limestone Eanges, about twelve miles from the town of Oberon, 

 S.E. of Bathurst. I was afterwards told that the Lyre-bird of New 

 South Wales is rather different from that found in Victoria, but 

 whether this is true or not I cannot say, nor, if true, do I know 

 where the difference exists. 



II. — On the occurrence of the Wliite-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus 

 albirostis, Gray, near the Bell Mock, September, 1880. By Mr. 

 J. M. Campbell. 



Although it is to be expected that many of the rarer Cetacea 

 frequent our coasts, the as yet imperfect knowledge of their habits, 

 the difficulty of capture, and the nature of the element in which 



