74- From. Magazines, &c. \ F ' n , 11 ', 



' ~ s L> s t July 



Avicultural Magazine (February), p. 147, remarks: — "By the 

 way, it really seems like divisions run mad when a bird so 

 obviously a Polytelis is erected into a separate genus on account 

 of a slight difference in one wing feather ! However, that is 

 not Mr. Seth-Smith's fault, though the British Museum Catalogue 

 of 1 89 1 does not separate it." 



* * * 



W OUR member, Mr. S. P. Townsend, is to be congratulated on 

 the usefulness of his maiden article, " Notes on the White- faced 

 Storm-Petrel " {Pelagodroma marina), which appeared in April 

 number of The Victorian Naturalist (vol. xix.) Mr. Townsend 

 made two mid-summer trips to Mud Island, Port Phillip Bay, 

 the second time being accompanied by Mr. Clifford Coles They 

 ascertained that the majority of the tiny burrows of the timid 

 little Petrels were tenanted with young, and that most of the 

 parents came to feed them from between the hours of 9 p.m. 

 and midnight, and then disappeared. Other important notes 

 bearing on the life-history of this Storm-Petrel are recorded. 

 Mr. Townsend very properly suggested the advisability of the 

 Government protecting these rookeries from demolition by the 

 guano-diggers, but at the time he was not aware that, principally 

 at the instigation of the Aust. O.U.,a proclamation had appeared 

 in the Vict. Government Gazette, 3rd December, 1902, protecting 

 the White-faced Storm-Petrels on Mud Island during " the whole 

 year." Now that Mr. Townsend has taken Mud Island " under 

 his wing " he might easily get the necessary " permit " to work 

 out other interesting points in the life-history of the little ocean 

 waifs. For instance, it would be extremely interesting to learn 

 when the White-faced Storm-Petrels come in to lay their single 

 eggs, how long incubation lasts' and when the young are full 

 grown and leave with their parents for their ocean haunts. 

 Incidentally, in his paper, Mr. Townsend has recorded other 

 birds seen on or in the proximity of Mud Island — some 28 species, 

 of which 10, as may be expected for the locality, were Limicoline 

 birds. Some of these he noticed in flocks in the lagoon — 

 partially dry at low water — in the centre of the island. 



* * * 



A RoEBURNE correspondent writes : — " Since my wire to you 

 on the 1 6th ult. concerning the extraordinary influx of Wild 

 Turkeys after the rains, the birds appear to have decided to settle 

 here until rain falls in the Gascoyne and Ashburton districts. 

 The oldest residents here declare that they have never before seen 

 such a sight. On the morning of Monday, 30th March, late 

 sleepers were awakened by firing going on all over the town, 

 resembling a village trying to beat off a besieging army ; but 

 the noise was only occasioned by many enthusiastic sportsmen 

 endeavouring to bring off flying shots, as the huge birds went 

 sailing low over the town. . . . The effect of the influx of 

 Turkeys on the local butchering company is disastrous, the 



