I ^O Australasian Ornithologists' Union. ^^^ l"JJ^ 



take the place in Australia which the parent journal, The Ibis, 

 has for so many years held in England and Europe. 



Mr. A. J. Campbell has found time, in addition to his labour 

 as co-editor, to do his share. In Part i is an interesting notice 

 of an historical character, dealing with the inception of the 

 Union, and detailing the preliminary steps leading up to its 

 foundation. Contained in it is a valuable photo. -reproduction 

 of the signatures of the members who met and appointed the 

 Provisional Committee, and who may be styled the founders of 

 the Union. At this meeting I regret I was unable to be 

 present. In reference to this plate we may congratulate 

 ourselves that up-to-date methods in connection with journalistic 

 illustration have enabled the editors to give to the world a 

 memento which would not have been possible when The Ibis 

 was started, in the "fifties" of the last century, as the organ of 

 the B.O.U. In Part 2 Mr. Campbell gives notes on the 

 beautiful Australian genus Malurus, which add to our informa- 

 tion of it. Some members of this genus of " Wrens " grade 

 closely to one another in the intensity of their colouration, and 

 it is to be hoped that Mr. Campbell's new species, M. whitei, 

 intermediate between M. inclnnotus and M. callaimis, will stand 

 the light of future examination, when more specimens are to 

 hand. 



A more interesting novelty, perhaps, is given by the same 

 writer in Vol. II., Part 2 (the best effort of our Union, so far) in 

 the shape of a new Flycatcher of the genus Micrccca. The 

 Australian members of this genus have hitherto been restricted 

 to four species, and the new bird, AI. brunneicaiida (Brown- 

 tailed Flycatcher), besides adding to this small number, forms, 

 one of the many additions to our avifauna which the far-off 

 Northern Territory is bound in time to yield us. 



From the pen of Mr. D. Le Souef we have two articles on 

 the "Protective Colouration of Australian Birds and their 

 Nests," containing matter of much interest, and instancing 

 numerous species in which either this remarkable colouration 

 exists as a protective feature in their economy, or which exhibit 

 the protective instinct in the architecture of their nests. It seems 

 likely that Mr. Le Souef's observations are quite new as applied 

 to a good many of the species in question. As the writer says, 

 " this is always an interesting subject." It may also, however, be 

 extended to the colouration of eggs as a sort of protective 

 instinct. Various members of the orders Liviicola; and Gavice 

 (shore birds and sea birds), which lay eggs on the ground in 

 open or exposed situations, appear to possess the astonishing 

 power of modifying the colour and markings of their eggs so as 

 to resemble exactly the ground, debris, and vegetation adjacent 

 to their nests. I have called attention to. this phenomenon as 

 regards the Plovers in a short paper in Part 3. Vol. I. It may 

 be observed in the eggs and nests, or nesting-cavities, of the Gul-ls 



