Australasian Ornithologists' Union. 163 



1909 



Australasian Ornithologists^ Union. 



EIGHTH (MELBOURNE) SESSION. 



On Wednesday, i8th, and Thursday, igth November, 1908, the 

 official delegates appointed by the Governments of the States of 

 the Commonwealth to attend the session, and visiting members of 

 the Union, arrived in Melbourne, and were met by some of the 

 Victorian ornithologists. At 4 p.m. on the afternoon of the 19th 

 the official delegates met at the Board Room, Department of Public 

 Works, Treasury Gardens, Melbourne, and were welcomed on 

 behalf of the Government of Victoria by the Hon. D. E. M'Bryde, 

 Minister of Public Works and Administrator of Fisheries and Game 

 Acts of Victoria. 



The following were the delegates, namely : — Victoria — Mr. C. W. 

 Maclean, Chief Inspector of Fisheries and Game, Victoria (elected 

 chairman) ; Western Australia — The Right Hon. Sir John Forrest, 

 K.C.M.G. ; South Australia— Mr. J. W. Mellor; Queensland— Mr. 

 E. W. Archer, M.H.R. ; Tasmania— Mr. A. L. Butler; whilst the 

 Union was represented by Messrs. A. J. Campbell, Col. Mem. B.O.U., 

 D. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S., and A. H. E. Mattingley, C.M.Z.S. 



In the evening, at the Athenaeum Hall, a public lecture, entitled 

 "The Birds of Riverina," was given by Mr. A. H. E. Mattingley, 

 C.M.Z.S. His Excellency Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael, K.C.M.G., 

 Governor of Victoria (who was accompanied by Lady Gibson- 

 Carmichael), presided. There was a good attendance. A magnifi- 

 cent series of 130 slides of the birds of this fertile area was exhibited. 

 The lectmxr, who had a wealth of information at his command 

 regarding the life-histories of the birds of this part of the Common- 

 wealth, which is situated in New South Wales, dealt with his 

 subject in a popular manner. He showed that birds were Nature's 

 insecticide, and that the work performed by birds was annually 

 worth many millions of pounds sterling to the Commonwealth. 

 They were indissolubly linked with our domestic economy, to such 

 an extent that the timt? was not far distant when it would be 

 incumbent on the Commonwealth Government to establish an 

 Ornithologists' Bureau similar to that' established by the Govern- 

 ment of the United States of America. His Excellency, in thanking 

 the lecturer, stated how valuable such a lecture was in educating 

 the people, and he was convinced that all that had been said 

 regarding the value of birds in keeping Nature's balance level was 

 true. One was apt to overlook the usefulness of our feathered 

 friends, but nature study was gradually educating the rising gene- 

 ration as to the proper position of birds with regard to mankind, and 

 their relative value to the community. Much praise was due to the 

 lecturer and his society for carrying on such useful work in such an 

 unselfish and unostentatious manner. Sir John Forrest moved a 

 vote of thanks to His Excellency for presiding, and stated that the 

 excellent views shown that evening, especially of the Black Swan, 



