Birds. 433 



respectively had charge of the Entomological and Ornithological depart- 

 ments. In August 1878, he spent that month in the fern-gullies and 

 hills of the Strzelecki Ranges in South Gippsland, The ruthless act of 

 the selector and bush-fires had then but barely touched one of Nature's 

 fairest domains, the home of the Giant Fern and towering Eucalyptus, 

 the latter ranking among the tallest trees in the world. The locality was 

 rich in bird-life, and a fair representative collection of bird-skins and eggs 

 was made during this and many succeeding visits to the same district. 

 Ptilotis cassidix and Pycnoptelus fioccosus were amongst the most common 

 birds there, and the nest and eggs of the latter species were discovered. 

 In 1880 he became one of the original members of The Field Naturalists' 

 • Club of Victoria, and, though absent from that State for the past 

 eighteen years, still remains an active member. Since 1878 he had been 

 corresponding with Dr. E. P. Ramsay, Curator of the Australian Museum, 

 Sydney, from whom he received many valuable hints as to the proper 

 mode of collecting birds and their eggs, their correct identification and 

 nomenclature, and the importance of making full notes relative to their 

 habits. This information was supplemented by exchanges of specimens 

 from Dr. Eamsay's private collection at Dobroyde. At intervals, until 

 September 1886, collecting-trips were made, principally to the Ballarat and 

 south-western districts of Victoria, South Gippsland, and Western Port. 

 All the sets of eggs from Victoria and New South Wales sent to the late 

 Mr. Phillip Crowley, and now in the British Museum, as well as others 

 presented direct to the Trustees of the latter institution, were personally 

 taken by him. 



Mr. North then left Victoria, to arrange the Dobroyde collection for 

 Dr. Eamsay, with the further intention of proceeding to Cairns, in North- 

 eastern Queensland, to join a relative who had spent the two precedino- 

 years in that district, and who from time to time had forwarded him 

 specimens of bird-skins, eggs, and insects. It was, however, decided 

 otherwise. After a stay of five months in Sydney, arranging at his 

 leisure the Dobroyde collection, and subsequently the collection of birds' 

 eggs in the Australian Museum, he was asked in February 1897 by 

 the Trustees of the latter institution to undertake the preparation of a 

 Catalogue. This he did, and it was published in 1899 under the title of 

 " Descriptive Catalogue of the Nests and Eggs of Birds found breeding in 

 Australia and Tasmania." Later on he was appointed to assist the 

 Curator, Dr. Ramsay, principally in the preparation of the " Catalogue of 

 Australian Birds in the Australian Museum." In company with Dr. 

 Ramsay, collecting-expeditions were made to different parts of the State. 

 In addition to obtaining birds and eggs, in 1888 he made large collections 

 of Silurian fossils at Lilydale, and Tertiary fossils at Muddy Creek and 

 Schnapper Point, Victoria, and in the following year of Permo-carboni- 

 ferous fossils at Gerringong and Crooked River, New South Wales. On 

 the 4th August, 1891, he was appointed to the position he now holds, as 

 Ornithologist, in the Australian Museum. In 1896-7 he visited the 

 inland plains between Narrabri and Moree, and northward to the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Queensland border, making a collection of birds, nests, 

 and eggs, a short trip being made in the following year to the Upper 

 Clarence River District. 



His official duties keeping him for the most part in town, he has 

 chosen for residence outlying suburbs, where he has made himself 

 thoroughly acquainted with the habits and nidification of each bird, 

 and, where possible, has studied the life history of a species. Thus five 

 years were spent at Dobroyde and Ashfield, four more on the outskirts of 



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