^".'coV'] ^'"^^ '"^'^ Notices. l6g 



Mrs. F. H. Hutchinson (Drouin) writes: — "1 have just 

 received my copy of The Emu, containing Mr. Mattingley's 

 splendid photographs of the Egrets' nests on the Murray. 

 Would it not be possible to have them published in 

 The Australasian, so as to arouse the interest and sympathy 

 of the general public to the cruel slaughter of the birds 

 and starvation of the unfortunate nestlings } I am sure 

 anyone with a spark of humanity would be roused to 

 indignation by those photographs. Comparatively few persons 

 see The Emu, and they are all more or less interested in 

 birds, whereas TJie Australasian is so widely circulated." 



A Classical Work by the President of the British 

 Ornithologists' Union. — "A Monograph of the Petrels 

 (Order Tubinares)," by F. Du Cane Godman, D.C.L., F".R.S. 

 All the known species of Petrels, Shearwaters, and Albatrosses 

 will be full)' dealt with, and the work will be illustrated by 

 more than lOO hand-coloured plates, drawn and coloured under 

 the most careful supervision. Large quarto (lo x 13 inches). 

 Printed on rag paper. The work to be completed in five quar- 

 terly parts. All the plates are prepared, and the manuscript 

 for the work is practically complete, and the publishers promise 

 a punctual issue of the parts. The edition will be limited to 

 225 numbered copies. The subscription price of each part is 

 £2 5s., and the complete work maybe paid for in advance at the 

 reduced price of i^io los. Cheques should be made payable to 

 the publishers, Witherby and Co., 326 High Holborn, London. 



Bird Illustrations. — Mr. E. M. Cornwall, Mackay, Q., is 

 still active with his camera. The latest of his happy results 

 are : — " Nest of Brown-breasted P"ly-eater (Pseudogerygone 

 brunneipectus) ;" " One-tree Rock " (a nesting place of many sea 

 birds); "Nestling of SQB.-^Sig\e. {Haliastur girrenera) ;'' "Nest 

 and Eggs of Black Butcher-Bird {Cracticiis quoyi) " — an 

 exceedingly beautiful picture. The Butcher-Bird's nest was 

 taken near Mackay on the nth November, and was prettily 

 situated in a parasitical clump in a tall melaleuca (tea-tree) 

 growing in a swamp. "This," writes Mr. Cornwall, "is the 

 first occasion in this district that I have noted these birds 

 nesting away from the mangroves. They are very plentiful here 

 in their favoured haunts, but so far I have not observed a brown 

 individual. [If there be no birds in brownish plumage in the 

 Mackay district belonging to this species, what is the reason .-* 

 Why do the black birds cease to throw brown ones in the south 

 and not in the north of Queensland ? — Eds.] 



A Collector's Difficulties.— Mr. J. P. Rogers, A.O.U., 

 writes : — " I left Derby for Wyndham last May on a collecting 

 trip. Small mammals were the chief object, but am sorry to say 

 the trip was fruitless. I found that on the Fitzroy River nearly 



