176 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIV. 



and in appearance somewhat resembled the brown (dead) con- 

 fervas of our ponds. 



I was sorry at not being able to visit the Australian Museum 

 in Sydney on my way back, as also the fine Technological 

 Museum, but, as some solace, was pleased to see the Curator of 

 the latter, Mr. R. Baker, F.L.S., who, together with some of the 

 Australian Museum staff, called at my lodgings. Unfortunately, 

 my old friend and colleague, Mr. W. W. Froggatt, F.L.S., F.E.S., 

 was also absent from Sydney, being away on important business 

 on behalf of the Governments of Victoria, New South Wales, 

 Queensland, and South Australia, visiting Honolulu, North 

 America, Europe, and other places, in search of further informa- 

 tion in connection with the existence of parasites of the Codlin 

 Moth, Fruit-fly, &c. 



Melbourne was duly reached after a fair weather passage of 

 nearly 5,000 miles. In conclusion, I cannot speak too highly of 

 the steamships Wyandra and Aramac to anyone travelling in these 

 waters, everyone on board being most kind, which to an invalid 

 especially was most gratifying. 



Although at the time of the trip I was not in good health, many 

 pleasant recollections are stored up in my memory, and will 

 furnish material for reflections which are a source of pleasure 

 known only to naturalists and other lovers of Nature. The 

 magnificent Whitsunday Passage, Hinchinbrook Channel, and 

 other places through which we passed are too well known to 

 need any further description by me, but the sights seen will long 

 remain in my memory. 



Extinct Birds. — Some idea of the character of the Hon. 

 Walter Rothschild's recently published work on extinct birds can 

 be gathered from the notes and illustrations in the Illustrated 

 London News of i6th November, 1907. Few people realize how 

 many species of birds have totally disappeared from the face of 

 the earth during the last three or four hundred years — the time 

 man began to take notice of the wonders of nature around him, 

 and record the appearance and habits of the various members of 

 the animal kingdom. The author has made diligent search 

 through old MSS. and books, and, by bringing his own intimate 

 knowledge of ornithology to bear on them, has presented a series 

 of plates of birds which are no longer existing which will stand 

 close examination. That the author is animated by a desire to 

 save further extinction of feathered friends is shown by his having 

 leased the coral atoll or island of Aldabra, in the South Indian 

 Ocean, simply to protect the colony of the Abbot's Ibis, which 

 still exists on the island, and nowhere else in the world. We 

 trust his example will rouse others to do their best to save the 

 native fauna and flora. May it be long before the Lyre-bir4-»''** 

 claims a plate in such a book. 



