174 Campbell, Birds from Gouldian-Gilbert Type-locality, [^^"f^^^ 



Now that geographical races are so keenly discussed and 

 described, it is important to have a given starting-point, or key- 

 note, as it were, for North Australian birds. Therefore, specimens 

 from an original centre like the Port Essington region are indis- 

 pensable for examination and comparison. Although 80 years 

 have elapsed since Gilbert's day, there has been probably no 

 variation, save seasonal, &c., in the respective species in the north. 

 At least, Gould's fine plates, that have been compared with 

 M'Lennan's skins, do not indicate any change, so far as coloration 

 is concerned. 



John Gilbert worked from " Victoria," as the military settlement 

 at Port Essington was called. The settlement was formed in 

 1838 and abandoned in 1849.* Gilbert appears to have reached 

 the settlement during 1841. 



Gilbert accompanied Gould to Australia as a taxidermist, and 

 was sent to Western Australia in 1839. When Gould returned to 

 England, 1840, Gilbert followed with his (Gilbert's) western 

 trophies, and in 1841 (or 1842) returned to Australia, touching 

 at the West again on his way to Port Essington, Northern 

 Territory. There is no available record how long Gilbert remained 

 at Port Essington. Gould seems to have described Gilbert's 

 discoveries there mostly in the " Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society " (London), 1842, notably at the October meeting, when 

 he "exhibited and characterized " thirty new species of birds. In 

 1844 Gilbert joined Leichhardt's exploration expedition from Bris- . 

 bane to Port Essington, and, unfortunately, met his death at the 

 hands of treacherous natives, 29th June the next year.f A photo, 

 reproduction of the marble tablet erected to the memory of Gilbert 

 in St. James's Church, Sydney, is in The Emu, vol. xi., plate xv. 



The following personal sketch by the late Mrs. Robt. Brockman, 

 of Guildford (W.A.), which shows Gilbert's enthusiasm as a 

 collector, was communicated to the writer, and is not without 

 interest : — 



" He was in the York district collecting birds, also their eggs, 

 for Mr. Gould's large work, ' The Birds of Australia,' and in the 

 course of his travels one day came to ' Woodside,' and, as a matter 

 of course, was asked to stay and rest. We liked him so well that 

 we told him to consider our house his headquarters whenever his 

 occupation brought him within reach of us ; and he was a great 

 deal with us while after the birds he was in quest of. 



" He used to go out after breakfast, provided with some 

 luncheon, and wc seldom saw him until late in the afternoon, 

 when he would come in with several birds and set busily to work 

 to skin and fill them out before dark. In the evenings he used to 

 sing for us, and it was a great treat to hear his lovely voice, for 



* A paragraph concerning the settlement will he found in Professor Ernest 

 Scott's "Short History of Australia," p. 245. Further reference may be 

 found in the British "Parliamentary Papers" for I843, vol. xxxiii. 



\ An account of the circumstances of Gilbert's tragic end is recorded in 

 "Nests and Eggs" (Campbell), vol. i., pp. 330, 331. 



