198 About Members. ^thjan. 



Mr. C. French, F.L.S., the well-known Government Ento- 

 mologist of Victoria, who has also devoted some time to the study 

 of the economic side of bird life, has been elected a Fellow of both 

 the Entomological Society of London and of the Society of 

 Economic Entomology of America. The honour is well 

 deserved. 



Mr. F. M. Littler, of Launceston, who has not only contributed 

 valuable papers to the The Emu, but has endeavoured to 

 popularise the study of birds in Tasmania by his many articles 

 on the subject in the local press, has also received the Fellowship 

 of the British society named above, having found time whilst 

 closely observing birds to learn much of Tasmania's insect life 

 as well. 



Mr. Geo. Graham, of Scott's Creek, near Cobden, Victoria, 

 manager of Mr. Frank Madden's station, recently had a narrow 

 escape from losing his life through being twice shot by a young 

 man — a farmer of the neighbourhood — who appears to have 

 been labouring under an imaginary grievance. For some days 

 Mr. Graham's condition was considered critical, but he has 

 happily made a good recoverv, and been enabled to resume active 

 work. 



Members will congratulate Mr. Robert Hall, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S., 

 on his safe return to Melbourne after an absence of ten months 

 travelling in Asia and Europe. The most important part of his 

 journey, ornithologically speaking, was his voyage down the 

 River Lena, during which, with his companion, Mr. R. E. Trebil- 

 cock, he collected about 90 species of birds, in all some 400 skins. 

 The Hon. Walter Rothschild has purchased this collection, 

 together with the collector's field-notes, which in due course, it is 

 understood, will appear in The Ibis. 



Alteration of Close Season for Ducks and Quails in 



Victoria. 



Colonel Legge, F.Z.S., in his presidential address before the 

 Congress of the Aust. O.U. at Hobart, said : — " In this State 

 the close seasons have been changed, one might say, backward 

 and forward, on the motion of members of Parliament, who 

 know nothing of the economy of birds, and act upon informa- 

 tion of sportsmen who have not carried out careful investigations 

 and who take the occurrence of a particularly and abnormally 

 early brood, or a second, or may be a third brood, as depicting 

 the normal time of breeding. Hence we get unsound legislation, 

 which does more harm than good." 



Unfortunately Tasmania is not the only State where political 

 busybodies interfere, against expert advice, with such matters 

 as close seasons for birds. In Victoria the Minister for Public 

 Works (Mr. Thomas Bent) has seen fit to curtail what has 

 been proved by keen inquiry and experience to be the proper 



