1917-] British Associatiori in Australia. 55; 



evenings wlien wild birds, such as the Nankeen Night-Heron-' 

 (JSlt/cticurax c ale clonic us) , come in to roost. The Association 

 was entertained one afteruoon in the Botanical Gardens 

 by a distinguished company, including our ornithoL gical 

 friends, and it was here that we first met Dr. Leach, who 

 kindly presented us with a copy of his little book on 

 Australian birds, which proved to be iuvaluable subse- 

 quently in the Murray-Goulburn district. In these 

 Gardens the Crimson Parrot {Platycercus elegans) was not 

 an uncommon sight ; while on the lake there were many of 

 the commoner water-birds, and on a stream that fed it 

 a very tame j)air of Black-and-white Fantails [Rhipidura 

 r.iotucilloides), which apparently meant to breed there. 



On August 19 we departed for Sydney, provided with, 

 an introduction from Mr. Dudley Le Souef to his brother,. 

 Mr. A. S. Le Souef, Director of the Zoological Gardens. 

 Consequently we made it our first object to explore them, 

 after depositing our baggage at the Sydney Hotel, where 

 we were the guests of Sir Philip Sydney Jones. We shall 

 always remember with gratitude the trouble Mr. Le Souef 

 took on our behalf : he gave up almost the whole day to 

 our interests, and conducted us in the first place over 

 the present Gardens. There we saw many species in the 

 aviaries and on the ponds which we did not meet with 

 elsewhere; admired tame Honey-eaters which fed fronx 

 our hands, and Doves sitting on their eggs at our feet ; 

 and had our first sigiit of the Coach-whip Bird, after 

 dodging it for some minutes round a bush in one of the 

 enclosures. Naturally we were much delighted with all 

 these opportunities, but they paled before the light of our 

 experiences in the afternoon, when we crossed the Harbour 

 with our mentor to the site of the new Zoological Gardens. 

 This is a perfect paradise for birds, and will, I believe, long 

 continue to be so. There are a few new villas and recently 

 made roads near at hand, but the Gardens themselves 

 resemble a spacious park and are full of wild life. On one 

 side they rise with a steep bank from the Harbour, on^ 

 the other they fall away into ravines of different sizes ; : 



