To tHB VICTORIAN KATURALISt. 



of ammonia in 90 drops of water into the veins by means of a 

 hypodermic syringe at intervals, depending on the amount of the 

 collapse." In Central Australia the most efficacious remedy to 

 try in cases of camel poisoning is i pint of linseed oil with 

 2 drops of croton oil added. This is the cure used on most of 

 the camels belonging to the South Australian Survey Department. 



NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF THE BOX HILL DISTRICT. 



CUCKOOS AND PARROTS. 



By Robert Hall. 



{Read be/ore the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, Vlth Sept., 1898.) 



Continuing my observations on familiar birds of the Box Hill 

 district, I find it is time to say some few words on the Zygo- 

 dactyli, which includes the cuckoos with the parrot tribe. 



Excluding the winter season, the Cuculidse are always to be 

 found here, and, even then, solitary birds remain to winter, instead 

 of getting north, as is their migratory habit. Listen for them in 

 the early part of September and you will generally hear the voices 

 of two species far above the calls of all other birds in this locality. 



Of the 12 Australian species of cuckoos, 5 annually visit the 

 district. Altogether some 180 species are known, and repre- 

 sented by — (a) True Cuckoos (Cuculinae), (6) Lark-heeled 

 Cuckoos (Centropodinse), (c) Bush Cuckoos (Phoenicophoeinge). 

 (a) is universal; {b) is tropical — for example, the Pheasant Coucal 

 of Queensland ; (c) is unrepresented in the Australian regions. 



The largest of our mainland cuckoos (Centropus phasianvs, 

 Lath.) measures 24 in. in length, and is the only non-parasitic 

 species, while the smallest is 5-50 in., and, like all the others, is 

 parasitic. 



When cuckoos, or cuccus, according to priority, arrive here 

 to spend the warm season with us, they do not come with the 

 voice that tells the European people their blithe spring comers 

 have arrived. Even the boys are puzzled in them and their eggs, 

 and seldom answer well why the anomalous eggs are found in 

 certain nests. They have the " wandering voices," but not the 

 notes from which the simile is drawn. When the spring blossoms 

 begin to appear in the fields, the minstrelsy of the cuckoos is 

 heard along the borders of towns as well as forests. After this the 

 piercing voice is more rural, and until late in January, on rare 

 occasions, the call, for what I consider a marriage partner, is still 

 given, and repeated until Dame Fortune beams upon him. Espe- 

 cially in October are the weird notes of the Bronze species heard 

 above those of smaller denizens of the same woods. As for the 

 Pallid Cuckoo (Cucidiis pallidus, Lath.), it sits upon the tallest 



