120 Royal Australasian Omilhologiils' Union. [,sf'"jan 



liad little in the way of bird-life and to remove the impression 

 that, while a " Bird Day " was a good thing for eastern boys and 

 girls, it was useless in the West. Interest in ornithology has been 

 intensified, and it is probable that an annual Bird Day will be 

 celebrated in the schools, and that a Gould League of Bird-Lovers 

 of Western Australia will be established as the direct outcome 

 of the visit of the R.A.O.U. to the western State. 



Some members returned to the Eastern States by steamer, and 

 utilized good opportunities for study of the flight of the numerous 

 and interesting Albatrosses.* 



Other members made excursions to many parts of the huge 

 State. Reports following give some of the results. This first 

 visit serves also to indicate the best locaUties for future \'isits to 

 the West. 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 

 To THE Members Present at the 1920 Annual Meeting. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, — For the second time I have to express 

 my regret at being unable to address you personally at the annual 

 meeting. You have paid me the highest honour in electing me 

 as your President for two years in succession, and I have been 

 prevented by official duties from acknowledging my indebtedness 

 to you' or voicing the nan sum digniis that I feel so deepty. 



Our general honorary secretary has given you a resume of 

 the work of the past year — in which, unfortunately, I have 

 taken but small share — and you will now be called upon to place 

 the seal of your approval on the labours of the Council. Inevitably, 

 in such an association as ours, the bulk of the work falls upon the 

 shoulders of the few who have the opportunity of gathering 

 together at stated intervals in the home of the Union. We who 

 are situated so far from that centre can only sympathize and 

 (I fear too often) criticise ! For my own shortcomings I can 

 only plead want of leisure and that stimulus to greater effort 

 which arises from association w-ith keener fellow-workers. 



To the future, then, I will direct the remainder of my few 

 remarks, lightly sketching the lines upon which much useful 

 work remains to be done. 



Notwithstanding the considerable amount of field work that 

 has been accomplished during the past ten years, largely under 

 the guiding hand of Mr. H. L. White, by Messrs. M'Lennan, 

 Jackson, and Whitlock, together with the 'individual efforts of 

 Captain White, Dr. Macgillivray, and others, there- are many 

 avenues still open to the earnest field ornithologist, and especially 

 to him who has the leisure to devote to the sustained study of 

 some problem. Let me instance one subject of investigation that 



* The i)hotogra])hs of flying; Albatrosses were taken by Hugh Macknight, 

 late A.I.F., from the troopshij) Argyleshiye, on Gth. September, 1919, about 

 ten days before reaching Adelaide from Durban. 



