JOL"JN\!. OK THIC WILD BIRD IXVKSTK .ATIOX SOCIKTV. 



TWO INTERESTING CASES OF MELANISM. 



Durini;' the ])asl few months two interesting" 

 i-ascs of melanism iia\e eonie under niy notice 

 which seem worlhv of record. Recently, whilst 

 w ati-hiiii;- a iiiiniber of Hlue Tits on a feeding- 

 boartl outside m\ dining-room window, my 

 attention was arrested by what at first sight 

 ajipeart'd to be a black example. On my 

 Jipproaching the window it flew away, but 

 returned in a feu minutes. On the second anil 

 subsequent \isits 1 was able to notice it more 

 carefullv, and lake notes of its exact colour. 

 The whole of the breast and ventral pari of the 

 body was a \ery dark grey, with the head, back 

 and wings almost black; rump and upper tail- 

 •coverts, dark grev ; cheeks and throat, lighter 

 grev ; legs toes and claws, bluish-grey. 



The second ease was a Swallow that had flown 

 into the house. On pi(-king the specimen up, I 

 wa.s surprised to find that it was entirely black 

 on the ventral as well as on the dorsal surface, 

 •except for a small, greyi.sh-brown patch under the 

 •chin, indeed when held in the hand with the tail 

 •covered, it might easily have been mistaken for 

 a .Swift. — W'aitkr E. Collinge. 



STRANCe ACCIDENT TO A HERON 



Dr. H. C. Williamson has recently sent me a 

 specimen of a Heron (Ardea cinerea, L.), which 

 was found strangled on the telephone wires at 

 the Ray of Nigg, /Xberdeen, on .April 3rd. It 

 had been observed going to and coming from the 

 bea(~h, •.nid on one of these journeys it had 

 I'vidently poked its head between two of the 

 leleplioni' wires and turned a somersault, twist- 

 ing- tlie two wires into a loop round lb- neck. 

 I'he vertebral column was dislocated, and also 

 the left knee. .\ similar accident, so Dr. 

 Williamson informs me, happened to a gull some 

 littk' tinie asro. — W ai.tek K. Coi-Lingk. 



as forest or other reserves, should be proclaimed 

 Bird .Sanctuaries,' and should lie jealously 

 guarded from deletion; they are also a national 

 assi't, and increase in value as time goes on. It 

 is only right that we should leave some of inn- 

 country as we found it, so that it may be enjoyed 

 by our children's children, and that they, too, 

 may see the wonderfully interesting and useful 

 fauna that their forefathers saw." 



DldlilV Lk SofEF, 

 Hon. Sec. the Roval Australian Ornithologists' Union. 



" We should recognise the birds as a national 

 asset, and do all in our power to preserve them, 

 and let them have as many sanctuaries as pos- 

 -_sible. Portions of our .State, which are set apart 



THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF CANADIAN HAWKS. 



In an interesting- pajjcr on the Hawks of the 

 Canadian Prairie Proyinces in their relation to 

 agriculture (Canada (leol. .Surv. , Mus. , Bull. 

 \o. j8), .Mr. P. A. Taverner has made a valuable 

 contribution to the literature of the economic 

 ornithology of Canada. He rightly condemns 

 the few- injurious species and strongly urges 

 protection for the beneficial ones, and points out 

 that it is unfortunate that the farmer and sports- 

 man often do not possess the knowledge neces- 

 sary to distinguish the different species ; to most 

 of them a hawk is a hawk, and something to be 

 killed. " W'ith so much at stake, a farmer or 

 sportsman is no more justified in ad\'ancing 

 ignorance as an excuse than he is in proclaiming 

 his inability to distingush between crops and 

 weeds, or to know- the various insect pests that 

 he has to fight, or the game that the La\y allows 

 him to shoot. In fact, discrimination is a part 

 of his business as a farmer or sportsman, and as 

 such should be studied." It is clearly evident 

 that the Canadian farmer is very like our own, 

 and that the reallv important things relating- to 

 agriculture are not yet taught in the agricultural 

 colleges. However, this carefullv illustrated 

 l)ul!etin will do much to remove such ig-norance. 



THE SELECTION OF SNAIL-SHELLS BY 

 THE SONG-THRUSH. 



The Cjuestion whether the .Song-Thrush is 

 capable of selecting the different coloured shells 

 of Ihlix ncnwnilis. or whether one variety is 

 more iialatable than another, has formed the 

 subject of a scries of experiments made bv the 

 Misses Haviland and Pitt (.\nn. Mag. Xat. Hist., 

 iqif), pp. 525-5^,1). .As a result of their work 

 they are of opinion that the different varieties are 

 selected t(uitc haphazard, and that one is not 



