DO Barrktt, Pavasiiical Habits in the Ciiciilidce. \ ist'"oct 



with hereditary reasoning powers, and that he agrees almost 

 entirely with my theories on the subject as set forth in a 

 previous paper published in The Eiim, vol. v., part i, July, 1905. 

 Mr. Westell has been kind enough to forward me copies of his 

 series of remarkable Cuckoo photographs, which were exhibited 

 recently before the Royal Society of Great Britain. 



I was fortunate enough to witness a miniature combat between 

 a Narrow-billed Bronze-Cuckoo nestling and a baby Blue Wren, 

 which took place in a nest of the last-named species at Olinda 

 Creek in November, 1904. A snapshot of the struggle by Mr. 

 C. P. Kinane has already appeared in the The Einu.^ The 

 actions of the blind, featherless infant Cuckoo on this occasion 

 certainly showed no sign of being due to reflex action, but on 

 the contrary appeared to me a marvellous and almost uncanny 

 exhibition of instinct and sub-conscious reasoning. If it be 

 objected that the term instinct is meaningless, I can only reply 

 that there are many things in nature to which we attach 

 convenient labels, although they still remain beyond our 

 understandincf. 



Some Victorian Winter Notes. 



By a. G. Campbell, Melbourne. 



Having had occasion to journey to several parts of the State 

 during the winter months, I have been able to note something of 

 the bird inhabitants of the varied parts I have visited. One is 

 struck with this fact, that the richer the country is, the fewer the 

 birds. This is true in regard to number of species as well as 

 number of individuals, and the reason is somewhat obscure. Of 

 course, the settlement of good country, which takes place rapidly, 

 is responsible for the disappearance of native fauna and flora. 

 Nevertheless, the untouched tracts of such an area as Gippsland 

 are singularly devoid of bird-life, while the poor sandy rises of 

 the north-west, or the still poorer gravelly ridges of north-eastern 

 Victoria are veritable natural aviaries. 



Naturally enough, the food supply must govern the quantity of 

 bird-life, therefore it is, I think, to the presence or absence of 

 flowering plants and their attendant hordes of insects that the 

 abundance or scarcity of birds is due. It is notorious that 

 Gippsland, with its heavy rainfall and giant timber, gives no 

 encouragement to the scores of heath- like shrubs and the many 

 free-flowering eucalypti for which the more northern parts of the 

 State are famous. In fact, Gippsland is a place where water and 

 slimy fungous growths do the work of decomposition and soil 

 preparing, which in drier tracts is done mainly by insects of all 

 shapes and sizes. And birds surely follow insects. 



* Vol. v., part I, July, 1905. 



