114 Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union. [isf"jan. 



factures' All-Australian Exhibition, held this year in Melbourne. 

 Pamphlets dealing with the value of birds and their protection 

 were distributed, and much information was given to visitors to 

 the Court. 



The Zoological and Acclimatization Society of Victoria again 

 kindly housed the Union's library, which is under the supervision 

 of Mr. Le Souef. 



Mr. H. L. White, of Belltrees, Scone, N.S.W., with his customary 

 generosity, defrayed the cost of a number of plates which have 

 appeared in The Emu. Many valuable papers have been pub- 

 lished, notably those deahng with osteology, by Dr. R. W. 

 Shufeldt. Several new birds have been described by members, 

 also hitherto unknown eggs. 



In conclusion, it may be stated that there is need for a large 

 increase in membership, and it is hoped that, in the forthcoming 

 year, members will endeavour to induce friends who are interested 

 in our birds to join. 



F. Erasmus Wilson, Hon. Secretary. 



The address of Mr. Robert Hall, the retiring president, was as 

 follows : — 



Fields for Work. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen, — 



It is pleasing to us to realize the continued progress of 

 the Union since last we met. The Emu, in quarterly numbers, 

 shows the useful lines of our development, and we, fortunately, 

 keep with us the definite and sustained interest of the hon. 

 editors. Bird-observers over all the States gather from time to 

 time new springs of information, and their meandering within 

 The Emu is a source of satisfaction to us. Here we continue to 

 get the units of bird-lore that build the pages of our publication. 



It is not an easy matter to successfully form a Bird Observers' 

 Club unless the district is so fortunate as to have some corner- 

 stones — or, in other words, an available inherited interest. 

 Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney are fortunate in this respect, 

 with the result that environment is rapidly making a nature- 

 loving community. Such centres as Brisbane, Hobart, and Perth 

 should be doing better work than they are at present. Let us 

 trust them, in the next year or two, to send to the editors of The 

 Emu some useful notices of the work of their little bands. 



In the few words of my address to you this evening I prefer 

 that they should be suggestive rather than a multiple of acquired 

 fact. There is, as many of us know, a vast amount of pleasant 

 work to be done from our capital cities as centres, and I would, 

 for example, briefly outline what may be done from Hobart, as 

 one of them, apart from the land forms studied by members of 



