102 Forgotten Feathers. [^J 



Emu 



Oct. 



long. The feathers that cover the whole body are of an exceedingly 

 beautiful milk-white colour. The thighs, legs, and toes are about ten inches 

 long, and are covered with large scales of a bluish-black colour It has 

 four toes, one behind and three before, the middlemost of which is nearly 

 three inches long ; the claws are black, and there is a small web between 

 the two outermost toes. It feeds upon small fish, and frequents the sea 

 marshes and salt pools. 



Captain Wood observes that in the north-west parts of Greenland there is 

 a sort of fowl which the natives catch with springes and snares, chiefly for 

 the sale of their skins and feathers, which, being thick, they dress and make 

 garments of, like furs, wearing the feathers outward in the summer time, 

 and inward in the winter. He says two or three of his men killed 1,500 of 

 them in one day. From this account one would imagine snares would be as 

 unnecessary here as in the bird island of America, mentioned by the Earl of 

 Cumberland, who says there are such incredible numbers of birds found in 

 it that there needs no artifice to take them, for a man may catch with his 

 hands alone almost enough to serve a whole fleet. 



The Blue Gaulding is from its bill to the end of the tail about eighteen or 

 twenty inches, and from the extension of each wing about a yard. The part 

 of the bill towards the head is of a bluish colour, and black towards the 

 extremity ; it is very sharp, and about two inches and a half long ; it has a 

 greenish skin about the eyes, and a tuft of thin, small, longish feathers upon 

 the head ; the neck is about six inches long, covered with thin feathers of a 

 bluish-black colour, the whole body of the bird being nearly the same colour, 

 except the breast, belly, and under the wings, which appear somewhat 

 lighter. 



The legs are covered with geeenish scales, and are about seven or eight 

 inches long ; it has four toes, one behind and three before, the middlemost of 

 which is about two inches long, and it has black, crooked, sharp claws. 



They feed on shrimps, young crabs, spiders, and field crickets, and frecjuent 

 ponds^and watery places. 



[This description tallies fairly well with that of the Night- 

 Heron {Ardea nycticorax) a bird which, like the Great White 

 Egret, has a very large range. — T, C] 



From Magazines, &c. 



Journal of the South African Ornithologists' 

 Union, vol. i., No. i (Second Series), is a pretentious issue, 

 rivalling in its general appearance its model, The Ibis. The 

 Southern Union is to be congratulated upon its ability to 

 publish such a first-cla.ss journal locally. 

 * * * 



Wild Ducks Poisoned. — Ararat. — Large numbers of Wild 

 Ducks are being destroyed by farmers in the Dunkeld and 

 Glenthompson districts by means of poisoned wheat. The birds 

 have developed a taste for wheat, and settle on newly-sown 

 fields in thousands. To save the crops poisoned wheat is being 

 used to destroy the birds. — TJie Argus, 29/6/07. 

 If. * * 



Poison Again ! — Tunbridge. — Sportsmen generally complain 

 of the scarcity of Wattle-Birds this season, and news has lately 



