]76 JfATUfiAL HISTOEY SKETCHES. 



single variety of either on these coasts ; and all the 

 specimens I found were washed up on the beach dead. 

 Often after a heavy westerly gale, I have picked up a 

 dozen of the small birds on the coast, and I never could 

 make out what killed them, unless they were beaten 

 down by the violence of the storm. The blue-winged 

 variety was rare, and I only met with two specimens of 

 the mutton-bird in our bay. But there are islands some- 

 where off the Heads where both these birds must breed 

 in immense quantities, for boat loads of the eggs of the 

 mutton-bird are brought sometimes in the season up to 

 Melbourne for sale, and dried mutton-birds are a staple 

 article of commerce on some of these coasts. I have seen 

 more than a hundred dozen of the blue variety brought 

 in dead by one fishing boat. 



So much for the different birds that I met with out 

 here, and I do not believe many more species are to be 

 found in this district, although I have, no doubt, omitted 

 some. My list will give a pretty good general idea of 

 the ornithology of Port Phillip, and this is all that it pro- 

 fesses to do. This part of the country is certainly not a 

 first-rate station for a collection, as most of the prettiest 

 and rarest Australian birds, such as some of the parrots, 

 the rifleman, the regent-bird, and many others, are 

 strangers here. But the only way to obtain a knowledge 

 of the natural history of any country is to compare the 

 notes of naturalists kept in different districts, good or 

 bad ; and when one looks upon the map, and sees wnat 

 a mere speck the district which I have been describing 



