THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



try its first flight. In fact, I have had the conclusion forced upon 

 me that with all our Victorian ornithologists the main, if not the 

 only, objects they have in view are those above mentioned. This 

 has been especially noticeable in the Club excursions I have 

 accompanied, habits of birds being scarcely mentioned, and rarely 

 if ever alluded to in the reports. To the mere collector this is 

 probably all-sufficient, but if our writers were to take a few lessons 

 from the English periodicals, several of M'hich, as I have before 

 stated, often have most interesting and instructive bird articles, 

 their contributions would be far more appreciated by our 

 members as well as by the readers of our Victorian Naturalist. 



During my collecting rambles I have often been startled by the 

 swift flight and loud swishing noise close to my head of magpies, 

 and when one's attention is abstracted or devoted to the search for 

 insects, this close swishing is calculated to upset one's equilibrium; 

 at all events, it does mine. Now, last spring I had the same 

 experiences, and I determined I would see what explanation for 

 this habit of the magpie I could get from books, but, alas ! I 

 could get none ; in fact, so far as I recollect, it was not even 

 mentioned. What I should like to know is, did the bird possess 

 this peculiar habit in the earliest days of settlement, or is it, like 

 that of the New Zealand parrot, the Kea, of only comparatively 

 recent development. 



Now, that of the Kea I can understand, for in its well-known 

 fatal attack on sheep it has for its object the gratification of a 

 special weakness — the securing of the kidney fat — and although 

 this has brought upon it condign punishment, which may event- 

 ually mean extermination, still, as I have said, it has a distinct 

 gratification in view. I suppose we may dismiss as a mere skit 

 the jocular paragraph that recently appeared in the Argus from a 

 correspondent, to the effect that the Kea seems to delight in 

 teasing helpless creatures, such as a dog chained up, and in a 

 recent case went so far as to peck to pieces the boots of the 

 victim of a mountaineering accident while lying on the ground 

 awaiting the arrival of his companions with a stretcher, and it was 

 only by continually moving his head that he kept them away 

 from his eyes. 



But where does any gratification, reason, or instinct come in 

 for the action of the magpie, which apparently serves only ta 

 betray the whereabouts of its nest and young. If the habit has 

 existed in early times, what was then its object, and is it the same 

 now ? It certainly did not serve to frighten away the aboriginal, 

 and of other birds it seems to have no fear, for I have never 

 noticed it act similarly towards them. As to animals it is 

 difterent, judging from the fact that when accompanied by a dog I 

 have not been interfered with. From my own experience I can 

 state that up to say twenty years ago I was never molested by a 



