Vol. 



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. 'J From Magazines, &c. QI 



Wilton was generally successful. The expedition also had the 

 adv'antage of the others in wintering on the South Orkneys, where 

 many specimens were secured, as also off Coat-land. Altogether 

 over 500 skins were brought home. The expedition, which started 

 from the Falklands, reached as far south as 74°. Perhaps the chief 

 success was in finding eggs which hitherto have been seldom seen — 

 for instance, those of the Snowy Petrel, the Sheath-bill, the Blue-eyed 

 Cormorant, &c. The prime success was Mr. Bruce's discovery of 

 a rookery of Cape Petrels [Daplion capensis), a well-known Aus- 

 tralian and widely-distributed species, of which the eggs had never 

 before been found. Two entirely new species were procured in the 

 Gough Islands, both Buntings, very different from known species. 

 They were named the Nisospiza jessice and A'', goughensis. About 

 one, which has a resemblance to the "Mollymauk," no one has yet 

 come to a decision. It is not the same as any known specimen, 

 and Mr. \\'alter Rothschild and Dr. Hartert are still trying to place 

 it. 



Dr. Wilson, of the Discovery (National Antarctic, 1901-4) Ex- 

 pedition, also contributed an important bird-paper to the Congress 

 on South Polar species. He found the great Emperor Penguin 

 bred there during August, the period of greatest cold and com- 

 plete darkness, when the thermometer was often 100 deg. below 

 zero. The Emperor Penguin is a true ice-bird, never being found 

 north of the front of the great ice barrier. 



Fruit-eating Birds. — In The Journal of Agriculture, Victoria 

 (part 5, vol. iii.), Mr. Charles French, jun.. Assistant Government 

 Entomologist, contributes an important article on " Fruit-eating 

 Birds." 



The article, in the first place, was written for the recent Nature 

 Study Exhibition, Geelong, and gained The Age special prize. 

 The paper cannot fail to be of value and interest to the orchardist, 

 viticulturist, and others. Mr. French enumerates 24 indigenous 

 species of birds as destructive to fruit, and, naturalist-like, he treats 

 them systematically by vernacular names, classical names, geogra- 

 phical distribution, and breeding season, each species ending with 

 brief general remarks about food, &c. Probably there is a technical 

 error about the " Black Magpie." Strepera fuliginosa has been 

 written instead of 5. graculina. The latter fine bird ranges from 

 Queensland round to South Australia, but is not found in Tas- 

 mania. And, according to recent authorities, the King Lory 

 {Aprosmicltis cyanopygius) is not found in South Australia, while 

 the elegant swift-flying Lorikeet {Nanodes discolor) ranges into 

 Queensland. Of course these are items of interest to the zoo- 

 geographer, but the practical man will be more concerned with 

 the food, habits, &c., of the birds. 



Although the birds mentioned are a trifie destructive to fruit 

 during the season (the rest of the year they are almost wholly 

 insectivorous), Mr. French would not like to see such beautiful 



