114 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTES. 



The Late Mr. W. Kershaw. — Since our last issue one of 

 the few remaining original members of the Field Naturalists' Club 

 of Victoria has passed away in the person of Mr. W. Kershaw, 

 formerly Entomologist at the National Museum, which position he 

 occupied for some forty odd years. He had reached the ripe age 

 of eighty years, and, though retired from active work, still retained 

 a deep interest in natural history, and exhibited and was present 

 at the Club conversazione in May last. Beyond assisting at the 

 annual conversaziones he did not take a very active part in the 

 work of the Club, though always ready to render assistance to 

 those who required specimens named. Probably from his official 

 position he felt himself precluded from putting in writing and 

 placing before the Club much information which he must have 

 gained during a long series of years, and he could recall with 

 pleasure the days when it was possible to walk from Richmond to 

 Caulfield and collect through unoccupied country nearly all the 

 way. Mr. Kershaw was one of the most thorough of insect 

 collectors, and it is to be regretted that he did not live to see the 

 national collection properly housed in its new quarters. 



The National Museum. — We are pleased to announce that 

 Mr. James A. Kershaw, son of the late Mr. W. Kershaw, has been 

 promoted to the position of Curator of the Zoological Department 

 of the National Museum, and that great efforts are being made, 

 under the directorship of Professor Baldwin Spencer, to have the 

 Museum ready for public inspection by the Christmas holidays. 



The Scrub-Tit in North-West Tasmania. — It is interesting 

 to learn that the Scrub-Tit, Sericornis {Acanthornis) magna 

 occurs here. My son, R. N. Atkinson (a rising ornithologist 

 of 13 years), found a nest at which an unknown bird was 

 busily at work. On further examination it proved to be the 

 Scrub-Tit. The nest was situate, and carefully hidden, in a bunch 

 of rushes and tall grass, partly surrounded by water. We visited 

 the place several times after the building of the nest was 

 completed, but could see no trace of the birds ; but after 

 an interval of a few days, on the 3olh September last we 

 flushed the bird from the nest and obtained three fresh eggs. 

 The nest and eggs of this rare bird agree with the descrip- 

 tions given by Mr. North in his valuable book on " The Nests and 

 Eggs of Australian and Tasmanian Birds," vide Appendix ii., fol. 

 387. I may mention that Waratah is 40 miles inland, 2,000 feet 

 above sea level, and is essentially a dense forest country. — E. D. 

 Atkinson. Waratah, Mt. Bischoff, Tasmania, 7th October, 1899. 



Extended Distribution of Gerygone albigularis, Old. — In 

 August last a sportsman presented me with a bird shot near 



