72 Cyclones and Bird Destruction . [isf'juiy 



Cyclones and Bird Destruction. 



This year cyclones in North Queensland were unusually violent, the 

 one at Mackay — at its height the night of 20th -21st January — 

 being a record for fierceness and widespread damage, in which 

 much avifauna was wiped out. Mr. E. M. Cornwall, although 

 himself heavily hit by the great storm, kindly sends the accom- 

 panying photograph of a portion of his bush paddock and bird 

 sanctuary, with the following note : — " The destruction of bird- 

 life has been deplorable. Thousands of sea-birds were driven 

 ashore : amongst them were Frigate-Birds, Gannets, and Caspian, 

 Brown-winged, Crested, Lesser Crested, Black-naped, Roseate, 

 and Noddy Terns. Thousands of these were lying dead along 

 the beaches. I found some in my paddock amongst the drift 

 which the tidal wave swept up to my garden back fence. Our 

 forest birds are almost wiped out.. We have not seen a single 

 Honey-eater of any kind since the storm, and those birds we have 

 seen could be counted on the fingers of one hand. At Mrs. Innes's 

 place the Parrots flocked into the house, and, though the roof 

 went off, they remained there until the storm was over." The 

 illustration shows how completely the foliage has been stripped, 

 by the force of the wind, off the trees, which were acacias (two 

 kinds), melaleuca, eucalyptus, careya, &c. Regarding another 

 cyclone at Cardwell the night of loth-iith March, a corre- 

 spondent, Mr. Tom Butler, J. P., after mentioning destruction of 

 his own property, loss of local stock, two aborigines killed, and 

 the appearance of the scrub after the blow — " like those illustra- 

 tions you see in the papers of a forest in France that has 

 been shelled" — writes: — "I think the birds in the scrub (really 

 a green jungle) are nearly all wiped out. Most of them 

 would be killed, and the fruit-eaters would have to leave or 

 starve, there being nothing for them. A few birds strange to 

 me came round the premises looking for food. White-eyes 

 (Zosterops) came in great numbers after the fallen oranges (nearly 

 all the orange crops came to the ground). The poor little chaps 

 were starving, and so weak they could not fly. Others made a 

 raid on ' Joeys' ' (Blue-bellied Lorikeet) milk pots — in fact, were 

 all over the place hunting for food. Our tame Pigeon (Magnificent 

 Fruit-Pigeon) was away that night ; do not know where he got to, 

 but he returned home next morning a complete wreck, and was 

 apparently so disgusted that he rarely leaves home now. You 

 remember how tuneful the numerous birds used to be in the 

 adjacent scrubs at early morn. Since the blow there has been a 

 dead silence — not a sound of any sort. Even the Megapodes do 

 not sing out." The destruction of beautiful bird life by these 

 fierce visitations of Nature must be enormous — temporary ex- 

 tinction in some parts. Therefore, as a mere drop of water in 

 a bucketful must be the few specimens taken by the hand of man 

 from time to time for museum and scientific purposes, to which 

 there is sometimes objection taken by over- zealous persons. — 

 A. J. Campbell Surrey Hills (Vic.) 



