Vol. XI, 

 1912 



] Bird Day. 259 



In New South Wales a special supplement of The Teachers' 

 Gazette, containing tour coloured jjlates, was issued. This con- 

 tained interesting and valuable articles by well-known writers and 

 ornithologists. Special Bird Day school papers were issued for 

 October. A public meeting, attended by far more than the hall 

 could accommodate, was presided over by the Chief Inspector, 

 Mr. Dawson, the president of the Gould League of Bird Lovers of 

 New South Wales. 



In Victoria the chief feature was the special issue of The School 

 Paper containing original articles by members of the R.A.O.U.; 

 special lectures and addresses by bird lovers, headed by Mr. J. A. 

 Leach, M.Sc, Inspector of Nature Study, to the senior pupils ; and 

 excursions to the Zoological (rardens, under the leadership of such 

 ardent ornithologists as Dr. Geo. Home, his niece. Miss Bowie, 

 and Mr. E. Brooke NichoUs. 



From each school reports were forwarded to the Education 

 Department. These are of great value to the members of the 

 Union, for the first list gives the birds seen on Bird Day, the second 

 a copy of the school bird-list to date. These lists will provide 

 much valuable matter for the student of the migratory and 

 nomadic movements of birds. 



The Union views with approval the work of the Bird Observers' 

 Club, the South Australian Ornithological Association, and the 

 Gould League of Bird Lovers, with their thousands of members, 

 and anticipates that the efforts to protect our native birds will be 

 much more successful because of the weight of public opinion 

 created by so many intelligent enthusiasts, who can appreciate the 

 beauty, the song, the interest, and the value of the most remark 

 able avifauna of any land in the world. 



In addition to the metropolitan area, excellent Bird Day celebra 

 tions were held in the provinces, notably at Geelong (where Mr 

 C. F. Belcher addressed 1,200 scholars in the Eastern Gardens) 

 Tallangatta, Elmore, and Maryborough. At the last-mentioned 

 place Mr. A. H. Chisholm addressed both East and West schools 

 At the former a pretty poem on "The Honey-eater," specially 

 written for the occasion by Miss C. B. Coutts, was recited. The 

 veteran bird observer, Mr. Isaac Batey, and Mr. D. C. Swan took 

 Drouin and Drouin West schools respectively, and Mr. L. C. Cook 

 Poowong, with happy results, while Mr. G. E. Shepherd did yeo- 

 man service on the Mornington Peninsula, addressing schools or 

 public meetings at Somerville, Tyabb, Frankston. Mornington, and 

 Dandenong. 



Rhipidura (fulvifrons) mayi, Ashby {vide Emu, vol. xi., p. 41). 

 — I have recently received a series of this Flycatcher, which might 

 be known as the " Northern Rufous Fantail," from Mr. May, from 

 the same locality as the last, and they are all true to type, thus 

 proving that the distinctive characteristics were not due to 

 immaturity. — Edwin Ashby. Adelaide, 12/12/11. 



