104 Correspondence. [j^. 



Emu 

 St Oct. 



for music. I know a barbarian who shot his Magpies on account 

 of " the noise they made in the morning." He would perhaps 

 have dehghted in Dr. Bancroft. The voice of the Magpie is 

 music to me, and to hundreds of others, and we dechne, in spite 

 of Dr. Bancroft's opinion, to consider it a " harsh, guttural sound." 

 —I am, &c., FRANK S. SMITH. 



Noorat, Victoria. 



About Members. 



Captain S. A. White and Mrs. White, of Adelaide, have started 

 on a trip to Central Australia, and will be absent, probably, for 

 several months. In a letter to a Melbourne member of the 

 R.A.O.U., written before setting out. Captain White stated : — 

 " We will make for Macumba, with the object of visiting some 

 fine bores, where birds may have collected. Next, we will proceed 

 to Dalhousie Springs. From the Springs we will move on to the 

 Finke River, and follow its course into the Macdonnell Ranges, 

 travel along the southern side of the ranges, making trips into the 

 heart of the mountains where gorges will permit of a passage. 

 After reaching Alice Springs we propose to push on further east, 

 exploring the range for all kinds of animal life as we travel. We 

 will work out the extreme eastern end of the Macdonnell Ranges, 

 which is new country, return to the Hall River, run it down into 

 the unknown, and find our way back to Oodnadatta through 

 country which looks fairly blank on the map. This means, of 

 course, 2,000 miles of travel over rough country." 



Obituary Notice, 



News was received in May of the accidental death by drowning 

 of Mr. Lachlan M'Kinnon Burns, at the Forrest River, near 

 Wyndham, Western Australia. Mr. Burns, although only 24 

 years of age, had done valuable scientific work in different parts 

 of the western State. A native of Gippsland, he went to Western 

 Australia when a lad. Soon after leaving school Mr. Burns was 

 engaged on survey camps for some time. Two years ago, when 

 Mr. C. Price Conigrave organized his exploring expedition to 

 traverse the extreme northern part of Western Australia, Mr. 

 Burns joined as second in command. Through the efforts of 

 Messrs. Conigrave and Burns a valuable collection of the fauna 

 and flora of that part of the continent was made. Shortly after 

 the return of the expedition, Mr. Burns accompanied a party to 

 the Montebello Islands, off the Western Australian coast, where 

 interesting zoological finds were made for the Royal Society of 

 London. 



In the early part of May, 1913, Mr. Burns volunteered to join 

 an Anglican party that was establishing an aboriginal mission 

 station at the Forrest River. Mr. Burns had obtained an intimate 



