80 Correspondence. I"tjuly 



Correspondence. 



\ Ul'RAL HISTORY NOTES IX THE VICTORIAN " STATE SCHOOL PAPER." 



To the Editors of " The Emu." 

 SIRS, — Kindly allow me space to point out that the praiseworthy 

 efforts of the Victorian Education Department to familiarize 

 the children of the State with the names and habits, &c, of the 

 fauna and flora of the land in which they live are likely to be 

 marred through want of a little care in the preparation of the 

 articles dealing with the subject. 



In one article last year headed " Yellow-haired September " 

 the author tells the children that he noticed a " Grey Butcher- 

 Bird, " and that he knew it by its sharp-pointed bill . I never yet 

 saw a Butcher-Bird with a " sharp-pointed " bill. In fact, I 

 understand the curved tip or hook to the bill is the chief 

 anatomical point in the bird's anatomy. 



Pipit is spelt Pipct, and the bird is called unmusical. To hear 

 it sing ng at nesting-time is enough to contradict this assertion. 



The theory that the " extra " nest of the Yellow-tailed Tit is 

 meant to deceive the Cuckoo is ingenious, but is not borne 

 out by experience. Personally, in a period of over twenty years' 

 collecting I have never found, or heard of, a Cuckoo's egg 

 being found in the top nest.* I have seen the wily Cuckoo 

 enter a nearly completed nest, and leave it, perhaps to call another 

 time when things were ship-shape. 



By all means teach the young people Natural History, but 

 let it be scientific, even if popular. — Yours, &c., 



ERNEST A. D'OMBRAIN. 

 Casterton, 26/// April, [903. 



Note. 



Destruction oe Birds on Lake Connewarre. — Last Christmas 

 a person was shooting and demolishing flocks of Sandpipers, 

 Tringa, &c, with punt guns. Although it was open season for 

 these species, it is illegal to use guns that cannot be used from the 

 shoulder. Some other persons were noticed shooting rifle balls 

 into flocks of Pelicans, which had evidently been driven from 

 the interior by the drought. Could not the Field Naturalists' 

 Club of Geelong aid the proper authorities in bringing future 

 offenders to book ? 



Donations to the Coloured Figure Fund. 



SINCE the last acknowledgments the Council desires to return 

 thanks for the following amounts, viz. : — Mr. H. G. Barnard 

 (Queensland), £1 is. ; Mr. J. G. Gray (N.S.W.), 12s. 6d. ; Sir 

 Samuel Way (South Australia), 6s. 6d.; Mr. S. Robinson (N.S.W.), 

 5s. ; Mr. E. M. Cornwall (Queensland), 5s. ; Mr. W. M'llwraith 

 (Queensland), 5s. ; Edward D'Ombrain (Victoria), 5s. 



* We believe one instance is known. — Eds. 



