Vol. III.~1 From Magazines, &c. J Z 



inhabitants generally preferring turkey to mutton or beef. 

 The proprietor will doubtless view the departure of the birds 

 with a great amount of satisfaction." — Morning Herald, Perth, 



14/4/03. 



Bird Lore. — This admirable magazine more than maintains its 

 high standard of merit in the number for January and February, 

 1903. Amongst the noticeable articles is the second instalment 

 of a new departure in bird literature. This is from the pen of 

 the well-known ornithologist Mr. Abbott H. Thayer, which opens 

 with the statement that " the use of photographs of stuffed birds 

 as illustrations in bird-books has become an insidious stumbling 

 block in the path of those you are trying to lead to see the beauty 

 of life in all its forms," which is followed by an announcement 

 that each succeeding number of the publication will " contain 

 a photo, from specimens in the American Museum of Natural 

 History of some comparatively little known bird .... the 

 name of which will be withheld until the succeeding number of 

 the magazine." Mr. Thayer closes his present paper with the 

 remark : — " But, as the case stands, photography's exquisite 

 revelations go far beyond all art productions in the same field." 

 The place of honour in the present issue is assigned to Mr. A. J. 

 Campbell, who, in an article on " The Mound-Building Birds of 

 Australia," brings all information possessed concerning these 

 birds up to date, and enables the outside world to realize, by 

 means of photos., how they work and what are their surroundings. 

 " How to Study Birds " forms the subject of a most useful article 

 from the pen of Mr. Frank M. Chapman, the editor. The 

 remaining articles are of the best quality. 



The Zoologist (March, 1903) contains a most interesting article 

 on the extinct Black Emu (Dromceus ater) by Graham Renshaw, 

 M.B. The only stuffed example known is in the Jardin des 

 Plantes Museum, Paris. Dr. Renshaw, who examined the 

 specimen, states it is about the size of a large Bustard, and differs 

 from the ordinary Emu {D. novce-hollandics) in its smaller size, 

 in the greater development of its plumage, and in its colour 

 being brownish-black instead of greyish. The history of the 

 Paris specimen is well known, it being the skin of one of three 

 live birds which Baudin and Peron captured on Kangaroo Island, 

 off South Australia, in 1803. The other two birds were ultimately 

 turned into skeletons, one remaining in the Museum of Com- 

 parative Anatomy connected with the" Jardin des Plantes and 

 the other being forwarded to the Royal Zoological Museum, 

 Florence. Two other " parcels " of the Black or Pigmy Emu, 

 or, as Dr. Latham called it in the vernacular, Van Diemen's 

 Cassowary, have been traced to British soil by Dr. Renshaw, 

 but were unfortunately lost. At the sale of the Bullock Museum, 

 1 8 1 2 , the Linnean Society purchased a " Lesser Emeu " for £j 1 os. , 



