Vo1- II1- 1 Le SOUEF, Extinct TasManian Emu. 2X\ 



1904 j o 



" fifties " Mr. James Cox, of Clarendon, imported one or more 

 from Victoria along with two Native Companions, and others 

 were introduced somewhat earlier. 



When in 1802 some members of Baudin's French expedition 

 landed on King Island they were informed by a sealer named 

 Cowper that small, dark Emus were plentiful on that island, 

 and that he himself had killed about three hundred, consequently 

 some have thought that the Emu which used to exist on that 

 island was identical with the extinct Black Emu (Dromceus 

 atcr) of Kangaroo Island, while some bones lately received by 

 the National Museum of Melbourne from King Island* also bear 

 out the same thought, as they are very much smaller in every 

 way than the mainland birds, and approximate closely to those 

 of D. atcr, but more bones must yet be received before the 

 matter can be settled. 



It is much to be regretted that so little information can be 

 obtained about the extinct Tasmanian birds, and it is to be 

 hoped that our Tasmanian members of the Aust. O.U. will 

 still endeavour to discover some Emu remains. 



Description of a New Sub-species of Mirafra. 



By Robert Hall, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. 



EIGHT specimens of Mirafra, or Bush-Larks, from Broome, 

 N.-W.A., agree among themselves while conspicuously varying 

 from other species in so far as there is no rufous colouring, with 

 only the palest isabelline over portions of them. The lateral or 

 terminal parts of each feather, which are either strong rufous 

 or pale rufous in the known Australian species, are in these 

 birds almost white, while the greater portion of each feather 

 is brownish-black, so that the contrast is great. 



What attracts the eye at once is that these specimens appear 

 black and white dorsally and pale cream ventrally. The Aus- 

 tralian Mirafrae that I have so far handled have been dorsally 

 strong or pale rufous or brownish, and ventrally strong or pale 

 rufous. Consequently these birds appeal to me as representing 

 a sub-species. It is a well-known fact that certain desert birds 

 distinctly guard themselves in the matter of colouration by 

 agreement with their surroundings. My correspondent, Mr. 

 J. P. Rogers, has collected these particular eight birds on ground 

 that has the birds assimilating in colour with it. He further states 

 to me that on a part of the Fitzroy River, N.-W.A., where the 

 ground is greyish the birds are greyish, but that the majority on 

 the Fitzroy are chocolate, because the ground is of that colour. 

 On the Robinson and Meda Rivers, Mr. Rogers further states, 

 the birds are brown, in agreement with the brown soil. On 

 the Ashburton River, near Onslow, from where Mr. A. W. 



* Emit, vol. iii., p. 1 13. 



