THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 45 



In breeding season it recognizes its arch-enemy, man, whether 

 on horseback or in the buggy, and far beyond a quarter of a mile 

 from its nest it will follow him and endeavour to make war on 

 him. The Black-breasted Plover will fly at dogs, for protection 

 of its eggs, just as the magpie will fly at a crow for a like reason. 

 To reply directly to Mr. Best's query, I should say the bird has 

 learnt by direct experience (not instinct) to regard mankind in 

 the light of an enemy ; experience, because in the remote and 

 sparsely populated districts, where the birds are not subject to 

 the persecutions of schoolboys or other egg-hunters, they are 

 of a much milder disposition, but as we approach the towns 

 their ferocity increases. 



In the mallee country Mr. Goudie has noted that a person 

 going near the nest of a magpie is not attacked as he would be 

 in the case of a nest nearer the coast, even when the mallee nest 

 contains young. I have climbed to examine nests in this latter 

 part, and although they contained young the old birds flew 

 straight away to watch from a distance, offering no resistance 

 whatever. When I was a schoolboy I made a visit to Point 

 Cook with a companion, and we took fifteen young magpies from 

 five nests. In not one case did the parents fly at us, although it 

 was a pity they did not do so. Because the country was closed 

 to everyone without a permit to traverse it, consequently the 

 magpies were very trustful. 



On Good Friday last I had an incident related to me of a 

 single young bird in a nest half a mile from a house in the 

 country behind Swan Hill. It was ready to fly. Being carried 

 away and placed in the yard, the parent birds immediately 

 perched in the same enclosure, and soon all went off together. 

 This was the first notice of the parents, who doubtlfss had 

 surveyed the whole proceedings. To me it seems, the thinner 

 the population the less vicious the magpie. It is evidently the 

 inherent love of the parent for its offspring that causes it to 

 attack man, dog, or bird. 



TWO NATURALISTS AT PHILLIP ISLAND. 



By Joseph Gabriel and Henry Thos. Tisdall. 



{Read hefore the Field Naturalists^ Qluh of Victoria, IQth April, 1899.) 



Starting from Prince's Bridge station by the 8 a.m. train and 

 passing through the country often visited by the Club, such as 

 Cheltenham, Mentone, Frankston, and Mornington, we arrived 

 at Stony Point at 11.30; thence steamer was taken to Cowes. 

 The approach to Cowes is rather pretty. Towards the north- 

 east the southern part of French Island can be seen ; particularly 

 noticeable is a high promontory called Tortoise Head, 

 where the Government proposed some years ago to build a fort. 



