Vol. xxvii.T Leach, The Birds of Victoria. i;3 



1910 J ' ' -^ 



flowers. They are the honey-eating lorikeets (parrots) and the 

 well-known and large family of honey-eaters. No less than 

 d>^ honey-eaters are found in Australia, 33 of which have been 

 recorded in Victoria. They include some very common birds, 

 such as the Wattle-bird, the Noisy Minah, and the common city 

 dweller, the " Greenie." Some are glorious creatures, and are 

 distinct ornaments to gardens, where they flash from flower to 

 flower, taking the honey and the insects that feed on honey. 

 They are the characteristic Australian family, and are not found 

 outside the Australian region, except one that has crossed 

 Wallace's line to Bali. Others have spread out to the Sand- 

 wich Islands, which, however, are included in the Australian 

 zoo-geographical region. 



The part of Gould's great work which he considered of most 

 value was that referring to the description of the play-house 

 of the bower-bird, for these birds, in addition to building a 

 nest, build a playhouse, which they decorate with pretty, bright 

 things, especially anything coloured blue. Just before Christ- 

 mas, at Leongatha, I had the gratification of seeing a perfect 

 bower within one chain of a busy metalled road and one chain 

 of the corner of a school-ground. The children grew blue corn- 

 flowers, which the birds took to the bower as soon as they 

 opened. A blue hair ribbon also served as an ornament. 

 These structures are " perfectly anomalous in the architecture 

 of birds." Gould further says : — " Their brightly decorated 

 halls of assembly must be regarded as the most wonderful 

 instances of bird architecture yet discovered." Victorians, 

 protect, then, your two bower-birds — the beautiful Satin Bower- 

 bird of the south, and the Spotted Bower-bird of the north. 



Australians, you live in a wonderful land, and not the least 

 important part of those wonders is made up of the birds, that 

 have been so thoughtlessly slaughtered in the past. Your 

 duty demands the preservation of what still remains for future 

 generations and mankind in general. See to it that the call 

 of duty, which has received so magnificent a response in other 

 matters, is cheerfully obeyed here. 



NOTES ON THE COLEOPTERA OF NORTH-WESTERN 



VICTORIA. 



Part II. — Water-Beetles. 



By J. C. GouDiE. 

 (Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, loth Oct., 1910.) 



In continuation of my paper descriptive of the Coleoptera of 

 North- Western Victoria, published in the Victoria ii Naturalist 

 for August, 1909 (vol. xxvi., p. 39), I purpose to-night to deal 

 with the water-beetles of the district. 



