^"'ini^^'l Protection of Pelicans in South Auslralia. A^ 



Protection of Pelicans in South Australia. 



A DEPUTATION, Organized by the South Avistralian Ornithological 

 Association, waited on the Commissioner oi" Crown Lands (Hon. 

 C. Vaughan) on Tuesday, the Qth May. and asked that the name 

 of the Pelican should be removed from the schedule of unprotected 

 birds and })laced on the second schedule, of birds protected from 

 1st July to 2oth December. The Pelican had at one time been 

 on the second schedule, but had been removed, and was now being 

 exterminated quickly. The deputation consisted of Mr. J. W. 

 Mellor (secretary of the South Australian Ornithological Associa- 

 tion), Ca])tain S. A. White (local secretary of the Royal Austral- 

 asian Ornithologists' I'fnion), Mr. M. Symonds Clark (secretary 

 Fauna and Flora Protection Society), Mr. E. Ashby (member of 

 the Royal Society), and Mr. F. R. Zietz (ornithologist at the 

 Adelaide Museum). After these gentlemen had fully and forcibly 

 put the case for the birds, Mr. Vaughan, in reply, said he had been 

 thinking of establishing on the Coorong a sanctuary for birds. 

 There would, he knew, be an outcry from sportsmen, who had 

 enjoyed indiscriminate shooting there. When the Government 

 had closed American River against fishermen the latter had loudly 

 complained that their grounds had been taken, but now there 

 was hardly a fisherman who would not oppose anyone who tried 

 to net fish in American River, because it was recognized that the 

 sanctuary there was replenishing the supplies. The Government 

 were thinking of taking similar action at Port Lincoln. The 

 necessity for having a defined area on the Coorong of absolute 

 protection for birds in the breeding season was becoming essential. 

 Too many sportsmen went down there to shoot and " accidentally " 

 hit the protected birds. He sympathized with the request of the 

 deputation, and fully recognized that the (Government had a duty 

 to do in trying to protect the fauna and flora in South Australia, 

 as Australia had the most peculiar fauna and flora in the world. 

 He would bring the matter before the Government, and get a 

 report by his officers, and see if a certain part of the Coorong could 

 not be set aside as a sanctuary. 



Another New Book on "The Birds of Australia."— A new 



book by A. H. S. Lucas, M.A.. and W. H. Dudley Le Soucf, 

 C.M.Z.S., has just been received at the time of going to press. 

 and will therefore be reviewed in the following issue of The Emu. 



" Oologia Neerlandica."— Old countries as well as new, like 

 Australia, need works on oology. There will be ready shortly 

 " Eggs of Birds Breeding in the Netherlands," by A. A. Van Pelt 

 Lechner (Netherlands Ornithological Society), with coloured plates 

 of specimens in the author's collection. The price by subscrip- 

 tion is seven guineas net for the complete work. 



