x8 Hardy, Thf Stinsin" of G. coarciata bv D. bicnlor. r^'"^i* 



Nat. 



to such a study, on ])erusal of Lubliock's (Avebury's) " Bees, 

 Ants, and Wasi)s " and Peckhams' " Wasps, Social and 

 Solitarv," the desire would become irresistible. 



A Warning ! — The Passing of the Passenger Pigeon. — 

 The American publication, Bird Lore, in its record for 1910, 

 says : — " The year may be fairly regarded as marking the 

 passing of the Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistina migratoria. Not 

 a single nest has been found nor a wild bird seen ; and a solitary 

 female, already eighteen years old, is said to be the sole sur- 

 vivor of the species in captivity. And this of a bird which 

 many men still living can remember in flocks of millions, which 

 darkened the day to dusk as they passed overhead ! Only 

 about thirty years ago, one of the places where they nested 

 in Wisconsin was a strip of wooded country twenty-eight miles 

 in length, in which there was not a single tree that had not 

 several nests, while many trees were crammed with them. It 

 was, of course, the greediness of man which has robbed the 

 world of this unique type of long-tailed pigeon, with narrow, 

 pointed tail-feathers like a parrakeet. Owing to their gre- 

 garious and confiding habits the birds were easily netted at 

 their crowded nesting-places. In the ' Royal Natural History ' 

 published in 1895, this sentence occurs : — ' There can be little 

 doubt that the vast numbers of this pigeon have greatly 

 diminished during recent years, and, though at present by no 

 means on the verge of extinction, it seems certain that, unless 

 laws are made for its protection, its extermination is only a 

 matter of time.' Apparently it has been only a matter of 

 sixteen years." The foregoing paragraph, taken from the 

 Country-side Monthly (England) for April, 191 1, shows how 

 great is the risk we in Australia are running of having some 

 of our birds and mammals recorded as extinct even during 

 the lives of the present generation. It is to be hoped that 

 the numerous sanctuaries which have been proclaimed in \'ic- 

 toria will be real sanctuaries, and not merely so by proclamation. 

 The latest additions to our list comprise the ai^ea included in 

 the shires of Ballan, Glenlyon, Mount Franklin, and Kyneton 

 as a sanctuary for the Black-tailed Wallaby, where it is to be 

 protected for the whole year, while for the rest of the State 

 the period of protection will be from ist May to 31st October : 

 and an area in the vicinity of the Whittlesea railway station 

 as a sanctuary for native game. It is hoped some supervision 

 will be accorded to this latter area, especially on holidays. The 

 Porcupine Ant-eater and the Satin Bower-bird have been 

 added to the list of species protected for the whole year through- 

 out Victoria. 



