THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 49 



It was surmised before by Mr. Luehmann that this plant was 

 indigenous to Western Port, but as it had only been obtained 

 heretofore as drift, this point was not quite settled until now. We 

 now made for Cape Woolamai, where we landed at the granite 

 quarry. It was from this quarry that the stone was obtained for 

 the Equitable Insurance building, corner of Collins and Eliza- 

 beth streets. The higher land, towards the Cape, is simply 

 riddled with the nests of the Mutton Bird, Nectris brevicaudus. 

 These birds come in thousands in the month of November. They 

 always seem to occupy the same nests year after year, only each 

 year they scrape the hole a little deeper. Each nest only contains 

 one egg. Mr. Denne performed the operation of getting the eggs 

 or birds. First he put in a stick about two feet long and listened 

 carefully for a snake's hiss ; all being quiet, he pulled out a fine 

 fluffy bird as big as a small fowl. The bird winked and blinked 

 and tried to get inside his waistcoat out of the light ; so after 

 taking a good look we put him near the hole, when he quickly 

 scuttled out of sight. There is a splendid view from this hill of 

 the South Gippsland coast past Cape Paterson and Cape Liptrap 

 towards the high lands of Wilson's Promontory. 



Turning back from the entrance we tried the channel between 

 San Remo and Newhaven, with great success, finding many 

 interesting forms of seaweed and Polyzoa. Among the Polyzoa 

 were Betepora avicularis, Microporella diadema, Bugula dentata, 

 Carbasea reticulum, Cellepora gloinerulata, and Pustulipora aus- 

 tralis. The water here is comparatively shallow, and in fine 

 weather the bottom can readily be seen, revealing, as we gently 

 drift, under the influence of the tide, a pretty and interesting sight. 

 Among the other growths we find that sponges abound in great 

 quantities and variety. Of sponges 120 species were collected by 

 Mr. Gabjiel some few years since, and placed in Professor Dendy's 

 hands, at his request, for working out. Some of these were found 

 to be very rare and of great interest, and altogether were a useful 

 addition to the large number collected in Port Phillip Bay by the 

 late Mr. Bracebridge Wilson. 



Well satisfied by our success we now made for home, and, by 

 frequent tacking, reached our anchorage about dusk. 



LIST OF BIRDS OBSERVED AT BURNLEY. 

 By a. Campbell, Jun. 

 {Bead before the Field Naturalists^ Club of Victoria, 8th May, 1899.) 

 As the bird life of a large metropolis is always interesting, it is my 

 intention to bring under your notice a list of the birds I have seen 

 frequenting or visiting the Richmond Park during the four years 

 (1895 to 1898) I attended the School of Horticulture, Burnley, 

 which is situated in the Park, or Survey Paddock, as it was known 

 in earlier days. 



