Vol. X 



1 President's Address. iSl 



" The Emu." — Although members of the Union are scattered 

 throughout the Commonwealth and New Zealand, and there is 

 only one general meeting a year, how is it we remain such a suc- 

 cessful and coherent association ? Because there is elected 

 annually a council which, amongst other details, controls a maga- 

 zine — The Emu — the " outward and visible sign " of the Union, 

 so to speak. The success of this magazine, which is published 

 quarterly, has been phenomenal, and the marvel of older orni- 

 thological associations, which have endured great hardships at 

 their beginnings. Take, for instance, the venerable and now world- 

 spread British Ornithologists' Union. Our brethren abroad com- 

 plain that our journal is hardly scientific enough, while those at 

 home would make it more popular in substance. Our success 

 has doubtless been the happy mean between these two extremes. 

 During the last lo years (we are now in the tenth volume of The 

 Emu) we have never once wanted " copy." Like the food of the 

 fine birds we all so much love, it has always been just at hand when 

 wanted. Our last " copy " is all expended on the current (October) 

 issue, and yet there has since been promised, by that public-spirited 

 ornithologist, Mr. H. L. White, of Belltrees, N.S.W., a very im- 

 portant article, the result of a collection and field notes of a young 

 and intellectual collector, Mr. G. F. Hill, whom Mr. White has 

 liberally subsidized for a season in the field of far North-West 

 Australia ; and the editors have just received from Mr. J. C. M'Lean, 

 of New Zealand, a lengthy and most valuable contribution to the 

 field ornithology of the North Island of the Dominion, including a 

 romance, and photographs of nests in the last retreat — there 

 is a melancholy ring about these words, the last retreat^ — of the 

 Miro australis — a bush bird which the late Sir Walter Buller, the 

 eminent author of the " History of the Birds of New Zealand," 

 supposed to be, if not altogether, well nigh extinct. 



Narrative of the Expedition to the Islands of the 

 Capricorn Group. 



By Charles Barrett, Melbourne. 



The conditions under which the expedition to the Capricorn 

 Islands in connection with the Brisbane session of the R.A.O.U. 

 was made were generally favourable. Through the kindness of 

 the Minister for Customs (Mr. Frank Tudor), the Fisheries In- 

 vestigation vessel Emieavour was placed at the Council's disposal 

 for a period of ten days ; and, throughout. Captain Cartwright 

 and the officers associated with him did all in their power to 

 further the objects of the expedition by meeting the wishes of 

 the leaders in regard to short voyages among the islands. The 

 trawler also supplied fish on several occasions, while members 

 of the crew helped willingly with the heavy work of trans- 



