116 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTES. 



Lyre Birds' Tails. — A Melbourne furrier was charged at the 

 District Court on ist November last with having in his possession, 

 and offering for sale, Lyre Birds' tails. It may not be generally 

 known that the Game Act renders persons buying, selling, or 

 having in possession flesh, skin, or feathers of protected native 

 birds, liable to prosecution. In this case the offender was fined 

 i os., with i os. 6d. costs. It is stated that other prosecutions 

 are likely to follow. 



Victorian Freshwater Fish. — Specimens of the smaller 

 Victorian freshwater fish are desired by Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby, 

 Australian Museum, Sydney. 



The Production of Aigrettes. — The use of Egrets' plumes 

 as ornaments for the headgear of ladies has lately received 

 severe condemnation at the hands of bird lovers, on account of 

 the destruction of the nesting birds, and the cruel starvation of 

 the young which follows the present mode of obtaining the 

 aigrettes. The Ibis, the journal of the British Ornithologists' 

 Union, states that the demand for ladies' aigrettes has instigated 

 attempts to keep Egrets in captivity, and so produce these 

 much-coveted feathers without unnecessary cruelty ; and in 

 a recent number of the Bulletin of the French Acclimatization 

 Society an account is given of a visit paid to an establish- 

 ment near Tunis, where a large number of White Egrets are 

 kept in a large enclosed aviary furnished with trees and water. 

 The conditions are so natural that they nest there, rearing two 

 broods in each year, in April and June. They are fed very 

 cheaply on horseflesh, the young birds at first requiring small 

 fishes, with which the mother feeds them. The precious side- 

 plumes are shorn twice a year, in May and September, the best 

 plumes being those of May. The value and lightness of these 

 beautiful feathers may be gathered from the fact that each bird 

 supplies only about no grains weight of plumes in the year, 

 which are worth about i]4 guineas. 



CORRESPONDENCE.— THE BLIGHT FLY. 

 To the Editor of the Victorian Naturalist. 

 Sir, — While engaged botanizing the other day, and enjoying 

 that instructive pastime, I was bitten by that terrible pest the 

 " blight fly," the result being severe swelling of both eyes, 

 suffering of pain and blindness for two or three days, with 

 consequent loss of sleep and time while the effect of the bite 

 lasted. Can you or any of your readers give me any information 

 concerning this fly, or suggest any remedy, preventive or curative ? 

 —I am, yours, &c, SUFFERER. 



[The orchid enclosed in your letter is Chiloglottis Gunnii. — Ed. 

 Vict. Nat.] 



