Vol, XVIII, 

 1919 



1 Correspondence. qII 



To the Editors of " The Emu." 



Sirs, — As regards the diet of Cormorants, which most people 

 consider highly destructive to valuable food-fishes, I may mention 

 that the following assorted menu was found in the stomach of a 

 Cormorant shot in the Bega (South Coastal) district of New South 

 Wales this summer, viz. : — Several earthw^orms, a small brown 

 eel, some fish fry (including those of sea-mullet, which inhabit 

 lagoons and ponds adjacent to the coastal rivers), some frogs, 

 and a young lagoon turtle. Both the lagoon turtle and the 

 brown eel are, it is asserted, themselves greedy devourers of the 

 ova of valuable fishes, while the latter also feeds on the fry, and 

 even on the adult fish itself. 



Certain lagoons and ponds in this district, once fairly well 

 stocked with mullet and perch (of the fluviatile and an allied 

 species), have become almost entirely depleted of both adult and 

 young fish. Enormous brown eels inhabit these lagoons and 

 ponds, and it is to them that the gradual disappearance of fish 

 is attributed. Very few are taken by hand-line. Thus Cormorants, 

 in some respects, perform a useful office. — Yours, &c., 



H. V. EDWARDS. 

 Bega, N.S.W. 



SOME OF Gould's types. 



To the Editors of " The Emu." 



Sirs, — ^When in Philadelphia a few months back I had the 

 opportunity of inspecting some of Gould's types. 



{Gilbertornis) Pachycephala riifogularis, Gould. — The type of 

 this bird is marked " Adelaide " ; no further details. Probably 

 Gould would call anywhere within 100 miles " Adelaide." The 

 particular locality for this bird — viz., the Mallee north of the 

 main line to Victoria — was then a huge sheep station. Probably 

 the bird was brought in to the great ornithologist, and, owing to 

 the then sparsely populated condition of the colony, no nearer 

 settlement could be designated. 



My specimen of adult male I collected near Karoonda on what 

 is known as the Brown's Well, on Paringa railway line, on 9th 

 April, 1913. It is in all respects, except the tone of the grey 

 back, a duplicate of Gould's type. In that specimen the grey of 

 the upper plumage seems to have faded somewhat, due, no doubt, 

 to the fact that his types were all mounted, and suffered from 

 exposure to light during a considerable number of years. The 

 chestnut abdomen and chestnut lores easily distinguish this bird 

 from its relative, Pachycephala gilberti, Gould, the lores in the 

 latter species being black. 



Platycerciis adelaidce, Gould (Adelaide Rosella). — This was 

 another of our birds of which I was anxious to inspect the type. 

 I found it was a representative of the ordinary form found in 



