no From Magazines, Src. [j^t 



Emu 

 Oct. 



seen. This is not because the naturahst in him is stronger than 

 the sportsman ; the reason is more sordid than that. Unless 

 he is a tyro he knows that to kill the ' call-bird ' is to destroy 

 all prospect of further sport, so far as Snipe-shooting is con- 

 cerned, for the year in that particular district. He knows — and 

 this is one of the most marvellous of the natural instincts of 

 the Snipe — that if he kills the ' call-bird ' the family of which 

 it is but the forerunner will not arrive that season." 



The writer goes on to suggest that there must be some sort of 

 telepathetic current between the single " call-birds " and the 

 main flock. He is quite oblivious of the fact, indicated by the 

 title of his dissertation, that the Snipe already arrived on the 

 feeding grounds — Quail and Plover also behave similarly — call 

 out in answer to the calls of other birds passing in the night, and 

 so attract them to the spot. In the same way, when an outward 

 migration is in progress, the calling of flocks passing overhead 

 attracts other flocks en route to join in with them. 



Review. 



["Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania," by Alfred 

 J. North, C.M.Z.S., &c.] 



The Trustees of the Australian Museum have issued part ii. 

 of volume ii. of this work. It is a continuation of the Order 

 Passeres, and contains the greater portion of the large and 

 important Family MelipJiagidce, commenced towards the latter 

 end of the preceding part, and the Families Nectariniidcs, 

 Zosteropidce, DicceidcB, and Pardalotidic. The figures of eggs, 

 which are of the natural size, were reproduced by the heliotype 

 process at the Government Printing Oflice, from photographs 

 of the specimens taken under the direction of the Government 

 Printer, Mr. W. A. Gullick, and the supervision of Mr. A. E. 

 Dyer. As in the previous parts, the illustrations of birds are 

 reproduced from drawings made by the late Mr. Neville Cayley, 

 who was also responsible for hand-colouring the plates of eggs 

 in the coloured copies. 



The get-up of this work in every branch continues its high- 

 class excellence. The only thing regrettable is the persistent 

 omission of important references. Some of these omissions, in 

 justice to ornithological students, should be mentioned. 

 Although an active member of the Field Naturalists' Club of 

 Victoria since its inception, in dealing with the nest and 

 eggs of the Helmeted Honey-eater {Ptilotis cassidix) Mr. 

 North has overlooked the historical finding of the first authenti- 

 cated nest and eggs of this fine species at the first " camp-out" 

 of the Field Naturalists' Club, November, 1884. [See Southern 

 Science Record, 1885 ; also Proc. Aust. Scietice Ass., vii., p. 621, 

 1898.] The author of " Nests and Eggs" has also overlooked 



