J From Magazines^ &^c. 



1903 J rrom magazines^ i^c. 22'C 



referred to are Eremiornis cartevi and Platycercus {Barnardius) 

 macgillivrayi, both originally described by Mr. A. J. North, 

 C.M.Z.S., in Victorian Naturalist (1900). 



* * * 



The Report 071 the British Museum {Natural History) for 1901 

 states that in the Bird-section the total number of specimens added 

 was 19,743. Those of Australasian interest were:— Collection of 

 birds and eggs from the Antarctic {Southern Cross) Expedition, 

 presented by Sir Geo. Newnes ; the type of Eremiornis cartert 

 from Western Australia, presented by Mr. T. Carter ; three birds 

 and six eggs, also from Western Australia, presented by Mr. B. 

 H. Woodward ; 220 nests and eggs from Victoria, presented by 

 the Government of Victoria ; 124 birds from the New Zealand 

 region, including the type of the Phalacrocorax ranfurlyi, 

 presented by the Earl of Ranfurly. 



The Red-browed Finch, &c.— Under the title "The 

 Australian Waxbill," which he says is the name given by the 

 Zoological Society, Mr. Reginald Phillipps, Secretary of the 

 Avicultural Society, has contributed to science some further 

 notes on this bird, for the successful breeding of which in 

 Great Britain he has received his society's medal. A point of 

 interest in his notes in the Avicultural Magazine (vol, viii., No. 

 12, p. 290) is how he prepared a nesting place. "In the centre 

 of the aviary there is a lime tree. Last year, instead of cutting 

 the shoots, I twisted them round and round and in and out, and 

 in the early opening of the year I continued the process, thus 

 forming a really good platform some 3 feet long by nearly 2 

 broad, on which the birds might comfortably build their nests." 

 The first nest came to naught, the poor birds being either 

 flooded out or discomfited by cold, and on 19th June the birds 

 were rebuilding in the same tree ; but it was not until 31st July 

 that Mr. Phillipps was certain that the young had been reared. 

 He says the immature may "readily be distinguished from 

 adult birds by their black bills, the absence of the red brow- 

 stripe, and their generally duller appearance. They are little dull 

 birds with a tinge of olive above, lighter below, with just a little 

 red in the region of the upper tail-coverts. But they are not 

 uniform in the shade of their body colouring, some being darker 

 than others, presumably a sexual distinction." On loth Sep- 

 tember the three young birds were "all slowly coming into 

 colour." This confirms Mr. A. J. Campbell's observations on 

 the same point. A domestic incident "is thus related :— " On 

 the 19th of June the male flew on a high, thin perch with a 

 feather nearly as large as himself in his bill. He was at once 

 joined by the female, and pairing, presumably unsuccessful, 

 followed. The pairing was repeated, and the two birds dropped 



