31 



NOTES ON SOME SPECIES OF TASMANIAN 



BIRDS. 



By Lieut. W. V. Legge, R.A., F.Z.S., M.R.A.S. 



[Read 9th June, 1874.] 



With a view of contributing towards the information 

 already possessed coueerning our Tasmanian birds, I ven- 

 ture to offer for the perusal of those members of our Society 

 who take an interest in ornithology, a few remarks on some 

 of the most noteworthy of the species frequenting the dis- 

 trict I have been residing in. There is up to the present 

 time a great lack of published matter relating to the habits, 

 economy, and natural history in general, of Australian 

 birds. Gould's great work, excelling to a high degree in 

 some points, while it is deficient in others, is a mere foun- 

 dation for future naturalists to work on. We cannot be 

 contented to refer to it, the more so, as there are compara- 

 tively speaking so few copies in existence, and before we 

 attain to that knowledge requisite to a perfect acquaintance 

 with the most beautiful section of the animal creation 

 in our province, we must have our Yarrells and 

 our Berwicks, as a well as a host of observers, 

 who will, after the manner of the many writers in 

 the " Zoologist," " Naturalist," " Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History," and other British ornithological 

 periodicals, record the result of their labours and re- 

 searches in local publications. It is to be hoped that, as 

 population increases, a keener interest will be taken in its 

 natural history, and that our local Museum will contain 

 type collections fitted for the instruction of enquirers into 

 that branch of study, while books of reference, the result 

 of the labours of residents in the island, will be forth- 

 coming to assist the youth of the colony in their researches. 



Cullenswood, 

 6th June, 1874. 



Pezopoetjs formostts, llliger. 



The ground Parakeet is numerous in the Epacris-covered 

 hills along the East Coast, between Falmouth and George's 

 Bay, evincing, as Gould noticed in his day, a partiality for the 

 grass-tree (Xanthorrhoea) districts. Among such vegetation 

 it is invariably found, alighting in similar spots after being 

 flushed. Although as a rule, it resorts to its characteristic 



