^°iqoQ^ 1 Prom Magazines, ^c. A^ 



fleet last year. Crossing the Great Australian Bight, the 

 doctor enjoyed special opportunities of observing the Albatrosses, 

 several of which he easily identified. " Once well at sea," he 

 writes, " Albatrosses became conspicuous, both by their size and 

 numbers overshadowing all other birds." Dr. Richards con- 

 cludes with the following remarks : — " I am inclined to believe 

 that among ornithologists unaccustomed to ocean voyaging, a 

 mistaken estimate is apt to prevail as to the relative number of 

 pelagic birds : I say ' relative,' for of course the actual total is 

 enormous. Such a false impression would naturally arise from 

 several causes, the principal one, no doubt, being a failure to 

 realize the immensity of the seas, covering, as they do, three- 

 fourths of the earth's surface : an incredible number of birds 

 may be scattered over this vast area and yet appear, as 

 is actually the case, few and far between. Then, too, these 

 ■'birds breed in colonies, and are best known to us when 

 assembled in apparently countless hordes. While it is true 

 that in making a coastwise trip, say from San Francisco to 

 San Diego, or New York to New Orleans, one would, during 

 certain seasons of the year, have plenty of feathered followers, 

 few of the birds observed would be ' pelagic,' and a voyage over 

 the high seas in similar latitudes would probably be compara- 

 tively lonely ; indeed, I can confidently assert that except in high 

 latitudes, and especially those of the southern hemisphere, one 

 may sail not only hundreds but thousands of miles and not see 

 a bird for days at a time. The recent voyage of the Kansas 

 — with the other fifteen battleships of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet — 

 from San Francisco to Japan, viA Hawaii, New Zealand, Aus- 

 tralia, and the Philippine Islands, may serve as an illustration. 

 The total distance covered was approximately 12,000 miles, but 

 except from lat. 32 S., long. 178 E. (some two hundred miles 

 north of New Zealand) to lat. 30 S., long. 112 E. (off the west 

 coast of Australia) I did not observe, all told, as many as lOO 

 pelagic birds. Doubtless many escaped notice, but I was much 

 of the time on deck myself, and my shipmates, knowing my 

 hobby, were always keen to send me word whenever any 'strange 

 birds ' were about. I think, therefore, such errors were reason- 

 ably few and quite insufficient to materially afifect the general 

 conclusions expressed herein." 



A Descriptive List of Birds Native to Victoria. — 

 This list was noticed in The Emu (viii., p. 224) as a supple- 

 ment to The Education Gazette and Teachers Aid. The list 

 has been slightly altered by the compiler (Mr. J. A. Leach, 

 M.Sc), and has been issued in an acceptable pocket form. 

 Copies may be had on application to the Government Printer, 

 Melbourne ; price 6d — the cheapest piece oi ornithological 

 literature ever published. 



