^°9o7 ' ] Mellor, The A.O.U. in Tasmania. 167 



Diamond-Bird (P. quadi'agintus), peculiar to Tasmania, but no 

 sign of it was seen. A thing that strikes the observant 

 naturalist as peculiar is the absence of Kingfishers in such a well- 

 watered country as Tasmania, the only species being the Blue 

 Kingfisher {^Alcyone asurea), formerly thought to be different 

 from the mainland species and termed A. diemenensis. This 

 bird does not seem plentiful either, as it was only once seen 

 during our sojourn in Tasmania. The hearty laugh of the 

 Laughing Jackass, the king of Kingfishers, is a bush note that 

 one misses in the timbered hilly country which covers the most 

 part of the State, but Mr. M'Gowan some little time ago 

 imported several pairs from the mainland and set them at 

 liberty on his estate. There is no evidence of their presence 

 now, and it is not known whether they have survived or not. 

 The absence of the Lyre-Bird is another strange point that 

 puzzles the ornithologist, as the gullies and ravines in many 

 places are identical with those of Victoria, even to the trees and 

 general flora.* It was suggested at the Congress meetings that 

 this bird should be introduced from Victoria and let loose in 

 some remote place where it would be free from molestation, and 

 it was the opinion of the best authorities on the subject that it 

 would undoubtedly breed and multiply even better than in its 

 native habitat, as no foxes would here disturb its tranquillity. 



In the open forest land, where the old gum trees stood dead 

 and gaunt, was seen the Tree-Martin [Petrochelidon nigricans). 

 It occupies the old dead limbs in which to rear its brood. 

 Cuckoos were plentiful, doubtless, in such a bird paradise, 

 finding plenty of facility for getting their eggs hatched and their 

 young reared by the various foster-parents upon which they 

 impose this arduous task. The well-known spring call of the 

 Pallid Cuckoo {Cuailus pallid ns) cou\d be heard again and again 

 in the bush country, and the smaller Fan-tailed variety was even 

 more plentiful, while yet a third species of smaller size was 

 present in the Bronze-Cuckoo {Chalcococcyx plagosus). 



An excursion to the summit of Mount Arthur, known in the 

 early days as " Row Tor," was amongst the items set down to be 

 accomplished during the short time in camp, but it was not for 

 several days that the weather cleared up sufficiently to warrant 

 the undertaking, consequently it was the morning of the i8th 

 December when I packed my satchel and shouldered my little 

 collecting gun and set forth in the glow of the rising sun. Ere 

 long it shone down with all the ardour of a summer's day, and 

 it was only when in the depths of some densely grown gully 

 with a trickling stream winding its way at the bottom that one 

 felt at ease. In one of these sylvan glades a Black Cockatoo 

 {CalyptorJiynclms funereus) was flushed from a tree where it was 



* See "Some Comparisons of Victorian and Tasmanian Birds," Emu, vol. iv., 

 P- 109- 



