^'^li"'] ■S^''«r Feathers. ' T93 



(^P. pJuvniced), Firc-tailcd Finch {Zoncegintlms bellus). Grey- 

 tailed Thickhead {Pachyccphala g/aiicura), and many of the 

 smaller birds are numerous, but the Whistling Shrike-Thrush 

 {Colly riocincla rectirostris) and the Small-billed Cuckoo-Shrike 

 {Graucalus parvirostris) are fewer than have been seen for 

 years. 



Tliere are not so many Pied {Hcematoptis longirostris) or 

 Sooty Oyster-catchers (//. Jtnzcolor) as there were a few years 

 back, owing to the useless and cruel liabit of so-called " sports- 

 men " shooting these harmless birds, which are not shy and are 

 slow on the wing. On our property we never allow them to be 

 shot, or Gulls either, which people often shoot out of mere 

 wantonness. 



The Red-capped Dottrels {ALgialitis mficapilla) are here, but 

 their two eggs are exceedingly difficult to find just at high 

 water mark. 



The Black Crow-Shrike {Strepera fidiginosa) is now very rare, 

 as are also the Black-cheeked Falcons {Falco melanogenys). 

 llie Brown Hawk {Hieracuiea berigord), however, nests here 

 freely. The Mountain-Ducks {Casarca tadornoides') have been 

 with us most of the year, but as the small lakes, which they 

 prefer to frequent, are dry, most have left. They are one of the 

 most cunning of the Duck tribe, I think, as when you find them 

 with young- ones the parent will fly ahead a little way off, or 

 even land and endeavour by fluttering its wings, &c., to lead 

 you from the fledglings. — J. D. Maclaine. 4/5/07. 



Forgotten Feathers. 



Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpc has compiled quite a substantial 

 volume on what may be described as the history and growth of 

 the bird collections in the British Museum. Many pages are of 

 peculiar interest to Australians. Until discovered recently by 

 Dr. Sharpe, it was never known where Dr. John Latham, the 

 famous ornithologist of Dartford, England, obtained the material 

 for describing so many Australian, or, as they were called in his 

 time " New Holland," birds. 



In 1902 the British Museum acquired from Mr. James Lee, a 

 grandson of the celebrated horticulturist of Hammersmith, a 

 large volume of paintings executed for the latter by one of his 

 collectors, Thomas Watling, who was sent to New South Wales 

 during the years 1788 and 1792. The drawings had evidently 

 been shown to the enthusiastic Latham, who, recognising most of 

 the birds to be new, promptly named them, and appears to have 

 referred to the pictures as " Mr. Lambert's drawings." Perhaps 

 the Doctor had some leading cause in connecting them with 

 Lambert, because in one place he mentions " Mr. Lambert's 

 coUeciion of drawings," although there is no evidence that the 



