80 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTES. 



Victorian Quinine. — At the annual conversazione of the Field 

 Club Mr. G. W. Robinson exhibited flowers, leaves, and bark of 

 cinchona, grown by him at Berwick. In the Australasian Jour?ial 

 of Pharmacy for July Mr. W. E. Matthews gives an assay of the 

 bark. The sample was taken from a plant of C. calisaya, cut 

 from stem at girths of 7 to 10 inches. The fresh green bark 

 dried at 100' C. lost 427 per cent, of its weight; the dried pro 

 duct estimated by the process of the " British Pharmacopoeia," 

 1885, gave 5744 per cent, of quinine and cinchonidine, and 

 6'62 per cent, of total alkaloids. This is a satisfactory result, as 

 5 to 6 per cent, of total alkaloids is considered a reasonable 

 standard for pharmaceutical purposes. It would seem tliat 

 Baron von Miieller was correct when he predicted " that 

 cinchonas would prove quite hardy, and easy of culture in the 

 coast regions around Cape Otway, Western Port, and in southern 

 and eastern Gippsland," in spite of the Government's failure to 

 grow cinchonas on the cold bleak altitude of Mount Macedon. 

 One of the leading quinine manufacturers in London has been 

 led by the notice of the exhibit in our May issue to apply to 

 Mr. Robinson for samples of bark, which will be duly forwarded. 

 Mr. Robinson is to be congratulated on his success. 



Note on the Nest of Queen Victoria's Rifle Bird-of- 

 Paradise (Ptilorhis Victories). — As this is Jubilee week, a 

 description of the first authenticated nest of this gorgeous bird 

 bearing our good Queen's name may not be out of place. It is 

 open-mouthed, constructed of a thick (averaging ^in. throughout) 

 layer of broad, soft, dried leaves of various trees and a it'N 

 portions of broad grass, somewhat loosely held or bound 

 together by wiry rootlets, spiral tendrils of vines, and a few 

 spiders' cocoons, and loosely lined inside with rootlets. Circum- 

 ference of whole structure between 15 and 16 inches, or 5in. 

 broad by 5in. deep. Inside dimensions, 2^in. across the mouth 

 by 2^in. deep. It is from the Cardwell scrubs. The female 

 was sitting when the nest was discovered, and is the same that 

 contained the eggs which were described before the Club at the 

 February meeting. — A. J. Campbell, 20th June, 1887. [Lack 

 of space compelled us to hold this note over from our last issues. 

 —Ed.] 



A CORRESPONDENT in the Field says: — "A very unusual occurrence took 

 place about 10 a m. one day last month. A larse rookery close to the 

 hou e was attacked by a flock of starlings, estimated about three hundred 

 in number. The rooks were hatching, and a desperate fight took place. 

 The invaders seemed to adopt good tactics, attacking in two divisions, one 

 fighting and the other looting the eggs, numbers of which were thrown out 

 of the nests to the ground. When I arrived and fired a couple of shots, 

 bringing down five of the robbers, they took flight in a compact body, 

 going in a straight line as far as we could see them." 



