THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 107 



chase begins the sparrow or other lesser bird will work upward as 

 quickly as possible, using all its agility to " dodge,'"' when the 

 hawk frequently resumes its previous course in search of other 

 food not so wary. All my specimens were obtained while hover- 

 ing above the poultry yard, which shows that they were partial to 

 game. 



Unless quite familiar with the stages of both species there is 

 sometimes a shade of difficulty in consigning them to their exact 

 positions. Two characters are very definite. According to Sharpe 

 Accipiter cirrhocephahcs has the middle toe without claw more 

 than twice the length of the culmen, while Astur approximans has 

 the same toe one and one-half times the length of the culmen, 

 and on Dr. Ramsay's authority length of tail, Accipiter cirrhoce- 

 phalus, is 7^ inches, while length of tail, Astur approximans, is 

 male 10 inches, female 8^2 inches. 



The first of the month brought me a female specimen of the 

 Striated Reed Lark, Calamanthus fuliginosus, which is unusual for 

 Box Hill. This is the only case in which, to my knowledge, the 

 district has produced this species, and the credit lies with my 

 spaniel, who is ever faithful in procuring birds of this nature. The 

 odour of the bird caused the dog to set it, when it was taken alive ; 

 it was then caged, only, however, to die by the morning. If at any 

 time a member would care to study the habits of this bird he may 

 successfully do so west of the mouth of the Kororoit Creek, 

 Williamstown, where they are very plentiful. 



GEOLOGICAL NOTES ON THE TOOMBULLUP GOLD- 

 FIELD AND ADJACENT COUNTRY. 

 By A. E. Kitson. 



(Read before Field Naturalists'' Club of Victoria, \Atli September, 1896.) 

 The tract of country embracing the above goldfield lies near the 

 centre of the county of Delatite, in the North-Eastern District, 

 about 40 miles south-east of Benalla. It consists for the greater 

 part of an undulating plateau, chiefly of quartz porphyry, with an 

 average elevation of about 2,000 feet ; is bounded on the west 

 by Holland's branch of the Broken River, and on the east by the 

 Fifteen-Mile Creek. Several minor streams, such as Middle, 

 Ryan's, Watchbox, and Sam's Creeks run through it in a 

 northerly direction, the first into the Fifteen-Mile, and the 

 others ultimately into Holland's River. In its lower portion, 

 where it has a westerly course through wide alluvial flats, Ryan's 

 Creek forms the boundary between the trappean area and a 

 belt of indurated silurian rocks, consisting of black and light- 

 coloured slates and sandstones, some of them metamorphosed 

 into lydianite, hornstone, and quartzite by intrusions of granite 

 and porphyry, evidently a northerly continuation of the Toom- 



