Tq6 Notes and Notices. \ ,^"'" 



■'■y-' Li!it Jan. 



Northern Territory), where I find that no partiahty is shown for 

 the vicinity of Termites' nests. Records of some 15 nests show 

 that all contained charcoal, and were built on the ground or on 

 tussocks of grass, generally on dry stringy-lmrk and woolly-butt 

 ridges." 



Avium Paradiseum. — The following extract is from a letter 

 dated Cape York, 25/11/13, by Dr. Wm. Macgillivray, one of the 

 vice-presidents, R.A.O.U. :— 



" No rain yet, and there will not be any general breeding until 

 the wet season commences. It is unusually dry, and the whole 

 place shows the effects of it, even the scrubs. Birds build their 

 nests only to pull them to pieces again or to desert them. We 

 have taken several nests of Eclectus* but cannot find that of 

 Pseiidopsittacus.'\ I have a Honey-eater which is, I think, 

 entirely new. It is small, and lives in the midst of the scrubs. 

 The other day, for a moment or two, I saw a bird like a Regent-Bird, 

 but it dived into the scrub and was gone. I have not seen it 

 since. We have not been into the mountains yet. They are 

 covered with scrub, and stretch for 40 miles, and all well watered. 

 It will take a generation of field naturalists to find all their wealth. 

 There is another Parrot near here, but we have not come across 

 it yet — a black one. Psciidopsittacns and Eclectus are calling 

 now— one from the opposite side of the creek, where there is a 

 nesting-tree, the other from a food tree just below our camp. 



" The scenery along the river here is very beautiful, the scrub 

 overhanging the banks, and a plant with huge palm-like fronds, 

 40 to 50 feet in length, springing from a common base, grows 

 frequently in clumps in the mud at the water's edge. You may 

 tell any botanical friend that we found a new hoya, each floret being 

 as large as a half-crown piece, and of a beautiful and delicately- 

 tinted purple hue. When the tide comes up in the evening the 

 surface of the water is strewn with large yellow hibiscus-like 

 blooms of a tree which overhangs the stream ; these fade into orange 

 and red, and give the stream a gorgeous appearance. There are 

 drawbacks, the chief of which is the want of rain, an occasional 

 snake in our beds, and the having to bathe in a bucket instead 

 of a swim in the creek, in deference to the appetite of Crocodilus 

 porosus. In spite of all, however, existence here is very pleasant, 

 and it is glorious to wake in the morning and hear the multitudinous 

 voices of the birds. The chorus was a babel at first, but the 

 species are sorting themselves out now as our ears become 

 educated to their calls." 



"Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds " (Campbell). — This 

 important work, although out of print, retains its value. In 

 nomenclature the names of the birds mostly accord with those on 

 the newly adopted " Check-list " of the R.A.O.U. Price per copy 

 (in two handsome vols.), ^^3 los., the last offer at so low a figure 

 for the few reserved copies. Apply Editors, The Emit. 



* Sec ante, p. 187. f Sec ante, p. 105. 



