I 44 From Magazines, &c. j" ,h "}"„ 



parts are considerably darker in the Australian bird. Mr. Seth- 

 Smith says : — " The point which I think is worth especial notice 

 in this connection is the difference which exists in the colour 

 of the newly-hatched young of E. chinensis and E. lineata." 

 It was observed that the male E. lineata showed no parental 

 affection towards the chicks, whereas the males of E. chinensis 

 brood their offspring to the same extent as the females. E. 

 lineata, as a rule, had three nests a year, and one pair hatched 

 four broods in 1900. Young birds of this species can run at 

 once, and resemble animated fluffy balls, about one inch in 

 length. It is noted that the two forms interbreed freely, and 

 newly-hatched chicks are intermediate between the two. The 

 hybrids are perfectly fertile. The article under notice is accom- 

 panied by a good illustration from a drawing by Mr. H. Gron- 

 vold of " Newly-hatched Painted Quails." 



Birds on Marcus Island. — " A Monograph of Marcus Island," 

 being an interesting account of its physical features and geology, 

 with descriptions of the flora and fauna of a mid-ocean islet, 

 by Mr. Wm. Alanson Bryan, B.Sc, has been issued in pamphlet 

 form " From the Occasional Papers of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop 

 Museum (Honolulu), vol. ii., No. i, 1903." The island, which 

 is an ancient triangular-shaped atoll with an estimated area of 

 740 acres, between 60 and 70 feet above sea level in its highest 

 part, and densely scrubbed, is situated in the North Pacific, 

 4,500 miles west by south from San Francisco, or about 1,200 

 south-east of Yokohama. For a time it was disputed terri- 

 tory between the Governments of the United States and 

 Japan, but by amicable agreement it was left to America. The 

 Japanese used it as a " birding " station, the Americans for its 

 guano deposits. 



The pages of the pamphlet devoted to " Aves " are particularly 

 interesting to Australians, 10 or 12 familiar sea birds or Waders 

 being mentioned, the field notes on the Sooty Tern {Sterna 

 fuliginosd), Noddy {Ano?^s stolidus), Red-tailed Tropic-Bird 

 {Phaeton rHbricauda), and Frigate-Bird {Fregata aquila) being 

 specially entertaining. The pleasant reading of the pages is 

 interrupted by a doleful note of a by-gone bird colony. In 

 referring to a fine Albatross {Diomedia immufabilis) Mr. Bryan 

 states : — " The story of the Marcus Island colony of Goonies 

 (Albatrosses) is one of death and extermination. In the 

 beginning of the operations of the Japanese company on the 

 island Goonies were fairly abundant. Not being able to find 

 guano by their crude methods, they developed a scheme whereby 

 they were able to make a marketable commodity by killing the 

 birds and boiling them down in great kettles. The resultant, 

 consisting of the flesh, bones, and viscera, was barrelled and 

 shipped to Japan, where it was used as a fertilizer. The long 

 wing feathers of all the birds were pulled out and carefully 



