THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



scared at our approach the cat and one rabbit disappeared down 

 the same burrow. 



In the dead timber the great Southern Stone Plover were very- 

 numerous, and along the creek we found one paddock where 

 phosphorized oats had been laid to poison the rabbits, but 

 opossums and hares were more frequently found dead than the 

 intended victims. Perched on some dead tree or soaring over- 

 head, I noticed four Eaglehawks and two Whistling Eagles, while 

 smaller hawks were very numerous. I was informed that when- 

 ever poison is laid for the rabbits these birds invariably put in an 

 appearance, and whenever a sick rabbit makes himself visible he 

 is speedily pounced upon by them, while his more robust brother 

 is seen scampering off unmolested. 



After again partaking of the hospitality of Mr. Raleigh, I re- 

 traced my steps towards the railway station, and in the scrub 

 passed through on my way out, I noticed about a dozen nests 

 previously passed by, but as they were almost all occupied by 

 young birds I did not disturb them, but pushed on to the railway 

 station, having travelled about twelve miles and noted sixty-three 

 different kinds of birds. A complete list is appended, but not 

 sufficiently interesting to occupy the time of the meeting in read- 

 ing. I would strongly recommend this district to the attention of 

 our ornithologists. Our entomologists will find much to interest 

 them also, but botanists had better give it a wide berth, as rabbits 

 and sheep between them seemed to have cleared out all the in- 

 teresting little plants found in other localities. 



The following is a list of the birds noticed by me in the Melton 

 district : — Black Duck, Chestnut-coloured Sheldrake, Maned 

 Goose : Pectoral Rail, Nankeen Night Heron, Black-breasted 

 Plover, Great Stone Plover, Painted, " Pectoral, "and Swamp Quail : 

 Bronzewing Pigeons : Rosella, King Lory, Swift Lorikeet, Red- 

 rumped Parrakeet, Blue Mountain Parrot, Musk Parrot : Fantail, 

 Pallid, and Bronze Cuckoo : Pomatostomus, New Holland, 

 Warty-faced, Spine Bill, Garrulous, White-plumed, Wattle Bird, 

 Black-throated Honeyeaters : White-eyed Crow, White-winged 

 Chough : Brown Tree Creeper, White-throated Tree Creeper : 

 Spotted-sided and Red-eyebrowed Finches : Australian Pipit, Little 

 Grass Bird, Chestnut-rumped Acanthiza, Little Brown Acanthiza, 

 White-fronted Ephthianura, Superb Warbler, Hooded, Flame- and 

 Yellow-breasted Robins, White-shafted Fantail, Black Fantail, 

 Frontal Shrike-tit, Harmonious Shrike Thrush, White-throated 

 Thickhead, Black-faced Grauculus, White-shouldered Campe- 

 phaga : Pied Grallina, Sooty Crow-Shrike, White-backed Crow- 

 Shrike, Grey Crow-Shrike : 2 Pardalotes, Sordid and White-eye- 

 browed Wood Swallows : Sacred Kingfisher, Great Brown King- 

 fisher : Welcome and Tree Swallows : Swifts : Podargus : Gos- 

 hawk, Nankeen Kestrel, Brown Hawk, Black-cheeked Falcon, 

 Whistling Eagle, Wedge-tailed Eagle. 



