O'DoNOGHUE, No/es oil Victoria)! Lyre-bird. [y^\'^ 



Vict. Nal. 

 XXXI. 



nightfall, the volume of sound arising from the valley would 

 seem to fill the universe. As the birds quit their roosts and 

 begin to forage for food the sound becomes less localized and 

 * more intermittent, and finally degenerates into a series of 

 vocal contests from the various whistling-beds on the slopes 

 of the valley. 



Under the conditions that then obtained, the pleasurable 

 feature of this valley and many other similar valleys of North 

 Gippsland might have prevailed for many human generations. 

 Then, fifteen years ago, neither the rabbit nor the fox was 

 known in the locality ; to-day the valley teems with both. And 

 the Lyre-birds ? Well, shortly prior to the death of the 

 energetic and observant secretary of the junior section of the 

 Club, Mr. C. Stout, who was conversant with the neighbour- 

 hood under review and with the large number of birds which 

 domiciled in the valley, I put the query — " Are the Lyre-birds 

 as numerous as formerly in the neighbourhood ? " His reply, 

 based upon the observations of a then recent visit to the spot, 

 was, " You would not hear or see one a now in week's ramble." 



The Geological Survey of Victoria. — Bulletin No. 25 is 

 devoted to an account of the Woolshed Valley, Becchworth, by 

 Mr. E. J. Dunn, F.G.S., late Director of the Geological Survey of 

 Victoria, with petrographical notes on the Beechworth granites by 

 Mr. D. J. Mahony, M.Sc, F.G.S. The author's description of the 

 tremendous amount of denudation represented by the Woolshed 

 Valley is extremely interesting. Cubic miles, he says, of 

 granite rock have been removed grain by grain, and the whole 

 is so rounded off that the vast period of time required for such 

 action cannot even be estimated. Beechw* rth has long been 

 celebrated for the variety of its minerals. Twenty-six are listed, 

 in which, besides the more useful metals, such as gold, tin, and 

 bismuth, are included gems such as diamond, carnelian, topaz, 

 sapphire, and garnet, but those found have all been of small 

 size. Enhydros or water-stones form one of the most remark- 

 able of the Beechworth minerals. They consist of many-sided 

 shells of brownish-yellow chalcedony, which in some cases are 

 lined with quartz crystals. Some of them, however, contain a 

 fluid and an air bubble, and their supposed method of forma- 

 tion is another int M"esling story. 



Wild-flower Show. — The Girls' Realm Guild of New South 

 Wales intends holding a wild-flower show in the Sydney Town 

 Hall on 3rd, 4th, and 5th of September next. Prizes are 

 offered for pot-grown native plants, also dried collections, as 

 well as photographs and artistic work based on the native flora. 

 Full particulars are given in the prize schedule, which may be 

 obtained from Miss G. E. Burrows, Vickery's Chambers, Pitt- 

 street, Sydney, 



