^°\^^^'] ^^^'^ Observers' Club. ig5 



Bird Observers' Club. 



At the October meeting of the B.O.C., Mr. Edwin Ashby, M.B.O.U., 

 of South AustraUa, gave an account of his recent collecting trips in 

 South Australia and Tasmania. He first told of the bird-life found 

 in a narrow strip of country about 5 miles wide and 40 miles long at 

 Port Germein, South Australia. One side of this strip is bordered 

 by the sea and the other by a mountain range, and in it were 

 associated Malurus callainus, M. cyanotus, Megalurus gramineus , and 

 other interesting forms. Mr. Ashby considered that the first-named 

 species was now almost extinct. He made his remarks most inter- 

 esting by handing round specimen skins of the birds under discussion. 

 Many fine skins secured from Tasmania a few days before the meeting 

 were also shown, and they included rare species such as Acanthornis 

 magna, Acanthiza ewingi, Melithreptiis validirostris, and M . melano- 

 cephalus. Mr. Ashby dwelt at length on the plumage phases of the 

 birds he exhibited. The hon. secretary (Mr. F. E. Wilson) exhibited 

 a number of Victorian skins of the same species as those collected 

 by Mr. Ashby, and some interesting comparisons were made. 



The November meeting of the Club was held at the residence of 

 the hon. secretary, Mr. F. E. Wilson. Mr. Wilson read an inter- 

 esting paper on his ornithological trip to Winiam, in the Nhill dis- 

 trict. He showed specimens of a new Acanthiza which he discovered 

 in the district, and which he proposed to name Acanthiza winiamida. 

 About 85 species of birds were met with, including some of the 

 Mallee forms, such as Drymodes brunncopygius, Hylacola caufa, Pachy- 

 cephala gilberti, and Acanthiza pyrrhopygta. Mr. Wilson illustrated 

 his paper in an interesting manner with a collection of birds, nests, 

 eggs, plants, and other forms of life met with in the district. The 

 president, Mr. A. H. E. Mattingley, C.M.Z.S., welcomed to the 

 meeting Mr. Berney, of Queensland, and spoke of the excellent work 

 Mr. Berney was doing in preparing an index to The Emu. Mr. Berney, 

 in response, spoke of his recent trip to England, and of the notable 

 ornithologists he had met there. He showed a number of photo- 

 graphs of the Bustard (Otis tarda) displaying its magnificent plumage. 

 From the remarks of Mr. F. E. Howe, there are still some rare birds 

 to be found breeding near Melbourne. Mr. Howe referred to a gully 

 near Ferntree Gully, where he met with the Red-browed Tree-creeper, 

 Rose-breasted Robin, Rufous Fantail, Lewin's Honey-eater, Olive 

 Thickhead, Satin Flycatcher, Black-faced Flycatcher, and Pilot- 

 Bird. 



Correspondence. 



To the Editors of " The Emu." 



Sirs, — Referring to Dr. Shufeldt's interesting and instructive 

 paper on " Fossil Birds' Eggs " in the last number of The Emu, 

 I would be glad to make a few comments on it. 



He states the difficulty there is in the contents of the egg 

 becoming fossilized. That is quite true, unless the contents had 

 dried or hardened in the first instance. The few eggs that have 

 been found are probably those of ground-laying birds, whose eggs 

 were probably swept away in a flood and deeply buried in mud. 



