1 68 Campbell, Another Decade in Australian Oology. Lth'jan. 



Another Decade in Australian Oology 



By A. J. Campbell. 



{Read before the Aust. O.U., Hobart Congress, 28/7/ November, 1903.) 



The study of oology (which, of course, includes caliology or 

 nidiology) is one of the most fascinating of nature studies, espec- 

 ially for the young. 



I think it can be proved that all the successful ornithologists 

 of the world were in their early days " bird-nesters," therefore 

 it is the young we most desire to see take up the study of orni- 

 thology — the old help themselves. 



During the previous decade (1 884-1 893), as was pointed out 

 by me in a paper, " A Decade in Australian Oology," read before 

 the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 10th July, 1893, about 

 1 }0 species of Australian eggs were described as new to oological 

 science. 



By a strange coincidence about the same number of species 

 was discovered or described during the last decade (1894- 1903), 

 bringing the total to about 690 known kinds of Australian eggs, 

 leaving a balance of some 70 or 80 species {i.e., taking the total 

 of known Australian birds at about 765 species) to be discovered 

 or otherwise accounted for. 



At this rate of progress the balance of unknown eggs should 

 be wiped off during the next decade ; but, of course, the last miles 

 of a journey are always the hardest and appear the longest. I 

 shall endeavour to mention some of the most important desiderata 

 in Australian eggs. Those are the large Chestnut-faced Owl 

 {Strix castanops) of Tasmania, coupled with the little Lurid Owl 

 {Ninox lurida) of Queensland ; the Bower Shrike-Thrush {Col- 

 lyriocincla boweri) of the Northern palm scrubs, and the White- 

 eared Flycatcher {Piezorhynchus {Monarcha) leucotis) of the same 

 region ; the Purple-crowned Wren {Malurus coronatus), Rufous- 

 crowned Emu-Wren {St i pi turns ruficeps), and the Carter Desert- 

 Bird {Eremiornis carteri) of the North-West ; then, coming back 

 again to the rich North-East, we have such interesting forms as 

 the Broadbent Ground-Thrush {Geocichla cuneata), Tooth-billed 

 Bower-Bird (ScenopcBus dentirostris), the glorious Golden Bower- 

 Bird {Prionodura newtoniana), and the Collared Scrub-Wren 

 {Sericornis gutturalis) ; two Tree-runners — the Pied (Sittella 

 a'bata) and the White-winged {S. leucoptera) — are both required 

 from the North, although they will doubtless be found character- 

 istic of their genus ; among the charming Honey-eaters there are 

 the Broadbent {Glycyphila albiauricularis), Varied {Ptilotis 

 versicolor), Streak-naped (P. filigcra), Fasciated (P. fasciogularis), 

 and the Cockerell (P. cockerelli), all of the North Queensland 

 scrubs ; the Yellow-rumped Finch {Munia flaviprymnd) , of 

 which a few pairs of b : rds have recently reached the Southern 

 markets ; of the white eggs, those of the Little Kingfisher 

 {Alcyone pusilla), the rare Red-faced r Lorilet {Cyclopsittacus 

 coxeni), the remarkable Night-Parrakeet {Geopsittacus Occident- 



