2 24 Correspondence. [^nf April 



are absent from the large adjacent islands of Tasmania and 

 Kangaroo Island.' For some time past I have been making 

 inquiries on the subject, through the kindness of Mr. Walter Gill, 

 Conservator of Forests, Adelaide. In June, 1903, he reported 

 that a Mr. Wells had seen mistletoe growing on gums 

 (eucalypts) at Duck Lagoon, Cygnet River, 12 miles from 

 Oueenscliffe, Kangaroo Island, but no specimens were available. 

 Since then specimens have been received from Mounted- 

 Constable Thorpe, who obtained them from White Lagoon. 

 They show the mistletoe (? LorantJius pendulus, Sieb., var. 

 parvifloriis) in leaf only, in situ on Melaleuca, sp. It remains to 

 test further the truth of the dictum as regards Tasmania." 



This must mean either that the Diamini does or did occur on 

 the island, or else that other birds can play a part in disseminat- 

 ing the fruits. In TJie Trans, of the Roy. Soc. of S. Australia, 

 vol. xxvii., part 2, p. 253, Mr. C. F. Johncock, in a short article 

 on LorantJius cxocarpi, favours the latter view. He considers 

 AcantJiocJicera caruuculata, Zoster ops avrulescens, Graucalus 

 vielanops, and perhaps Acanthlzcu, which nest in the mistletoes, 

 as undoubted agents. In the first-named of these he found 

 seeds in the digestive apparatus. — I am, &c., 



J. BURTON CLELAND. 

 Parkside, Adelaide, 4th February, 1906. 



THE BIRDS OF KANGAROO ISLAND. 

 To the Editors of " The Eniu." 



Dear Sirs, — In the report on the Birds of Kangaroo Island, in 

 the last issue of The Emu, and which I take to be the Union's 

 official list of birds observed there, I see Eopsaltria, sp., recorded 

 on the evidence of a whistle alone. Eopsaltria giilaris occurs on 

 Eyre's Peninsula, some hundred and fifty miles west of Kangaroo 

 Island, but its note does not resemble that of Eopsaltria australis, 

 which is not found on the eastern side nearer than the Victorian 

 border. 



Glossopsittacus pusilhis is recorded as observed but not 

 collected. G. porpJiryocephalus is known to occur on Kangaroo 

 Island, and is a common bird in the southern portion of South 

 Australia, whereas G. pusilhis is not common anywhere in South 

 Australia, and the two species are scarcely distinguishable when 

 feeding in the gum trees. 



Platycercus eximius is noted as having been observed towards 

 Cape Borda. This bird is not known to occur anywhere west of 

 Kangaroo Island, and on the east side not nearer than the 

 Victorian border. Taking these facts into consideration, I think 

 that these three names should be expunged from the official 

 list 



