Vol. V. 

 1905 



] From Magazines, &c. AK 



given to show what has been done. Bird-Lore notiees the fact that 

 in North Carohna the efforts of the labourers in the cause have been 

 so far recognized by the State Government that it acts in that 

 region as a " Game Commission," " with powers of appointing bird 

 and game wardens, who can arrest violators of the game laws." 

 One of our great mistakes in Australia has been that everything 

 of this kind has been left in the hands of the police, who are so 

 overweighted with duties that what would naturally be considered 

 an outside one has small chance of being attended to. The coloured 

 ])late in this number continues the series of Warblers, and a very 

 full Christmas bird census occupies pp. 22-31. 



" Bird Notes from Olixda Vale." — In The Victorian Naturalist, 

 vol. xxi., p. 162, new ground has been broken by Messrs. C. L. 

 Beirrett and E. B. Nicholls — with nesting notes of familiar l)irds. 

 illustrated by the camera by Mr. C. P. Kinane. 



The majority of the notes were made in the valley of the Olinda 

 Creek about three miles south-east of Lilydale. Weekly visits 

 were paid the district during the spring and summer months, witli 

 the result that 35 species were observed nesting, while photographs 

 of nests and eggs or young of many were secured. Although five 

 eggs for a clutch are sometimes recorded for the Spotted Pardalote 

 (P. piiiictatiis) it is surely a rare occurrence to see five young reared. 

 One of Mr. Kinane's successful pictures shows a row of five spotted 

 youngsters (4 weeks old) perched on a twig. Another picture 

 shows a newly-hatched Bronze-Cuckoo in the act of ejecting its 

 foster-nestling — a young Wren. (The subject of this illustration 

 has been enlarged and is reproduced in this issue of The Emit. 

 (See plate 1.) 



The other photographs reproduced in The Naturalist depict a 

 female Rufous-breasted Thickhead near her nest containing two 

 fledglings, and a Bronze-Cuckoo (ib davs old) being fed by a foster- 

 ])irent {Acanthiza pimlla). 



Although not an Australian bird, these interesting field ol^serva- 

 tions conclude with a note on the Starling (imported). It appears 

 that last year a settler picked 18 cases of cherries from 20 trees. 

 From the same trees this season he only collected about 2 lbs. 

 While away on a fishing excursion one Sunday afternoon the Starlings 

 swooped down and cleared his orcharrL Moral : Don't i^^o fishing 

 on a Sunday. 



* * * 



The Period of Incubation. — In The Avicultural Magazine for 

 March Dr. A. G. Butler has a valuable article on the duration of 

 incubation in different species, a little-worked but rich field for study. 

 The desire for exact knowledge, the probability of a connection 

 between the duration of incubation (as of gestation) and of life, 

 and the obvious importance to the breeder of birds of knowing 

 when eggs will hatch, should all have tended to direct attention to 



