Vol.XXVIl, 



•1910 



"1 Leach, The Birds of Victoria. 149 



pheasants' feathers if you will, for these do not involve the 

 death of a bird, but rather the reverse, for the more you wear 

 of these the more birds there will be ; but spare the Egret. 



The " Blue Crane " of the country dwellers is the " White- 

 fronted Heron" of the bird-lover. "Fronted" in a bird name 

 refers only to the forehead. These are valuable birds to the 

 grazier, farmer, and irrigationist, for, in addition to insects and 

 snails, they eat yabbies, which bore into the banks and bed 

 of irrigation channels, and so cause much loss of water by 

 soakage. 



Bitterns are seldom seen ; hence their loud, dismal, booming 

 note probably assisted in the formation of the " bunvip " 

 legends of the aboriginals. 



In group thirteen — Anseriformes — come the large swimmers 

 ^swans, geese, and ducks. Our " Black " Swan was an im- 

 possibility to people accustomed only to white swans, and so 

 assisted greatly in establishing Australia's reputation as a land 

 of paradoxes and '' upside-downs," so that Australia became 

 known as the country where the cherries grew with the stone 

 on the outside, where the trees shed the bark and not the 

 leaves, where the cuckoo called at night (Boobook Owl), where 

 there was a wren as big as a peacock (Lyre-bird), where foxes 

 flew (large bats), &c., &c. Fortunately, our graceful swan is 

 now protected, and is not decreasing as it did in Western Aus- 

 tralia, where the Swan River was devoid of swans. However, 

 on the suggestion of ]\Ir. A. J. Campbell, president of the Aus- 

 tralasian Ornithologists' Union, swans were re-introduced from 

 elsewhere, and so Westralians again enjoy the sight of these 

 glorious birds on their river. We have representatives of the 

 chief kinds of ducks found in Europe, in addition to some 

 peculiar forms found only in Australia, the most remarkable 

 of these being the Musk-Duck. 



In order fourteen — Pelicaniformes (fishers) — we are again 

 fortunate in having at least one of each family. Cormorants 

 or shags are well known. Are they friends or enemies of the 

 fisherman ? According to Mr. A. H. E. Mattingle}-, they are 

 friends, for they save more young fish and eggs by eating 

 yabbies, &c., than they destroy later. So, anglers, hesitate ! 

 Collect evidence, and balance good with harm. Fish were 

 probably once much more abundant, but so were cormorants 

 also. We have five kinds of cormorants, one of which — the big 

 black one — is also found in England, and, indeed, almost the 

 world over. The long-necked Snake-bird, or Darter, seems to 

 have the " head and neck of a snake on the body of a bird." 

 It is practically identical with the Water-Turkey of United 

 States. 



The Gannet may be often seen in Port Phillip diving from a 



