Vol i9i9 XVI ] Correspondence. 151 



writer. The point is that save for certain introductory notes rendered 

 by the western bird before it leaves its perch for the flight, the mating 

 songs of the two species are almost identical. This is the more interesting 

 since neither the call-notes nor alarm notes of the two species are at all alike. 

 This then seems to me good evidence that before these species became sepa- 

 rated, their common ancestor had a mating song, one which may have been 

 derived even more anciently from a common ancestor with the Bobolink. 

 Then geographical conditions separated the birds and the ordinary songs 

 were slowly evolved, the eastern birds producing a high piercing whistle, 

 while the western ones evolved a rich, loud thrush-like warble and this 

 leads me to believe that the first songs of birds were mating songs, evolved 

 by sexual selection and limited to the period of courtship only. 



Aretas A. Saunders. 

 Norwalk, Conn., Nov. 26, 1918. 



Australia's Effort to Save her Bird Fauna. 



Editor of 'The Auk': 



In my last October Australian mail I received a most interesting letter 

 from my friend Captain S. A. White, of Fulham, South Australia, where he 

 holds the Local State Secretaryship for the Royal Australasian Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union. Captain White is one of Australia's best known ornitholo- 

 gists and general naturalists. He has conducted upwards of a dozen scien- 

 tific expeditions into the unexplored wilds of Southern Australia, where 

 he has discovered unknown races of natives, collected many new forms of 

 birds, plants, and other specimens — and, finally, published some six or 

 eight booklets, illustrated by fine halftones, treating of these several expe- 

 ditions. 



Among his other experiences Captain White has come to realize the fact 

 that many species of Australian birds are on the very verge of extermina- 

 tion; some have already gone forever, while a whole host more are becom- 

 ing scarce. This pitiable state of affairs applies also to the flora over 

 similar areas. 



Now Captain White has recently taken hold of this matter with great 

 force and in ' The Register ' of Adelaide invited the attention of the Com- 

 monwealth to this serious state of tilings, especially to the rapid disappear- 

 ance of many of Australia's most beautiful and interesting species of birds 

 — and we all know what a magnificent avifauna she has. 



It would appear that the Government has repeatedly broken its promises 

 to set aside "Flinders Chase" on Kangaroo Island for this purpose, which 

 Captain White points out is an ideal place for the purpose. In the course 

 of his remarks in ' The Register ' for October 9, 1918, he says " News came 

 to hand by the last American mail that another 12,000 acres of woodland, 

 prairie and watercourse has been added to the great forest reserves in the 



