60 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTES. 



Wilson's Promontory. — Members will be pleased to learn 

 that the agitation commenced some years ago by this Club has 

 resulted in Wilson's Promontory being proclaimed a national 

 park for the preservation of native fauna. Vide Government 

 Gazette, 8th July, 1898. 



Ornithological Note. — A New Bird for Victoria. — The 

 Great Sandpiper, Tringa crassirostris, exhibited at the August 

 meeting of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, was collected 

 by Mr. J. B. Mason, of the Ports and Harbours Department, 

 at the Gippsland Lakes, during the autumn of 1895. This 

 interesting wanderer, sometimes known as the Japanese Knot, 

 has never been previously recorded so far south. — A. J. 

 Campbell. 



Oological Note. — The eggs of the beautiful White Goshawk, 

 Astur Novce-HoUandke, previously described by me were from 

 Tasmania {vide Victorian Naturalist, 1888). Mr. S. W. Jack- 

 son has kindly sent for comparison a fine pair of eggs of this 

 hawk taken on the Nicholson River, Gult of Carpentaria district, 

 13th January, 1898, which may be described as round ovals in 

 shape ; texture of shell coarse ; surface without gloss ; colour, 

 bluish white, sparingly marked with reddish brown or umber, 

 (i) has large blotches, particularly on the apex; dimensions, 

 2.05 X 1.6 1 inches. (2) has smaller markings, chiefly on the 

 apex, where are also faint purplish-brown streaks, after the 

 manner of those on the eggs of the White-headed Sea-Eagle, 

 Ualiastur gerrenera ; dimensions, 2.0 x 1.53 inches. Nest 

 constructed of sticks and twigs, lined inside with eucalypt leaves, 

 was situated about 70 feet from the ground in a eucalypt. — A. J. 

 Campbell. 8th August, 1898. 



Destruction of the Wattles. — We are pleased to see that 

 the action taken by the Field Naturalists' Club at its August 

 meeting in asking the help of the press in suppressing the 

 ruthless destruction of the wattles (acacias) for the sake of their 

 flowers, which is increasing in extent every season, has been 

 responded to by the Argus. This paper, in the course of a 

 strong article on the subject, suggested that the matter was one 

 of national interest, and which might well be taken up by such 

 an organization as the Australian Natives' Association. The 

 suggestion has been promptly acted upon, and many branches of 

 the A.N. A. have passed resolutions asking their members to use 

 their best endeavours to check the evil. It is to be hoped that 

 the good intentions thus formed vvill be remembered next July, 

 when one of the earliest signs of the coming spring is the delicate 

 blossom of the silver wattle, once so plentiful along the Yarra and 

 other watercourses near Melbourne. 



