THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTES ON THE INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS OF 

 VICTORIA.— Part I. 



By C. French, F.L.S., F.R.H.S., Government Entomologist. 



{Read before the Field Naturalists^ Club of Victoria, ()th March 



1891.) 



THE AUSTRALIAN BUSTARD, OR WILD TURKEY. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen, — There is an old 

 tale, known, I suspect, to most of you, that the average travelling 

 Englishman may be easily distinguished from most foreigners, 

 owing to some of the questions which he is said to ask when, for 

 the first time, he sets his foot in a new country — e.g., " Is there 

 anything to shoot?" Now, as an Englishman myself, with but 

 little love for indiscriminate shooting, I cannot but admit that this 

 abominable love of killing, either by shooting or other means, 

 seems to be with us quite an inheritance, for, go where you will, 

 one seldom meets a " Britisher," on travel bent, who is not well 

 provided with gun and ammunition, and, as a rule — there are, of 

 course, a few honourable exceptions — he is bent upon having 

 some " sport," and is not all particular as to what he shoots, 

 whether it be the humble insect-eating and homely little Robin or 

 an elephant, and seldom pauses to inquire whether the animal is 

 useful or otherwise — it is all one to him ; and should he possess 

 the necessary accuracy of aim, combined with a steady nerve, few 

 animals — be they quadrupeds or birds — escape his murderous in- 

 tentions. As one who has passed thirty-seven odd years of his life 

 in Victoria, and had many opportunities of making observations 

 both in the vicinity of cities as well as in the bush, I am afraid 

 that we in the colonies are, so far as the habit of indiscriminate 

 shooting goes, not one whit better than our English brethren ; so 

 we had better be as modest as possible under the circumstances 

 and gradually admit our faults, at least in this respect. Long 

 before the Government of this colony had done me the honour 

 of entrusting to my care the management of the Entomological 

 Department I had often been impressed with the urgent necessity 

 of something being done towards the formation of a distinct 

 named collection of the insectivorous birds of the colony, so placed 

 and arranged that any farmer, vigneron, or orchardist could be 

 able, when he came to town, by means of a collection of stuffed 

 specimens, together with their eggs, properly named, grouped 

 together, and easily accessible, to distinguish at a glance any 

 particular kind of bird that it would be desirable to protect from 

 the itinerant sportsman and others. This much, through the 

 liberality of the Government, supported by the Secretary for 

 Agriculture, I have been able to do ; and although the collection 

 is by no means perfect, I hope, with the assistance of some 



