14 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



the incubating months being, according to Mr. A. J. Campbell in 

 his book on "Oology of Australian Birds," from August to January. 



Having told you a little about the bird itself, as also its eggs, 

 young, habits, &c., it may interest you to know that within 

 the last few months I have made an appeal (through the 

 Secretary for Agriculture) to the Government, asking that 

 this, the most useful insect-destroying bird in the colony, might 

 be permanently protected, and at the same time suggesting that 

 the Governments of the other colonies be asked to join in the 

 good work. This appeal, it will be gratifying to the Club to 

 know, has been consistently supported by the Council of the 

 Zoological Society in Melbourne ; the result being that the 

 Government have been pleased to accede to my request, and 

 have, I understand, placed the matter before the Government of 

 New South Wales, who, it is to be hoped, will at once see the 

 necessity for the preservation of so valuable a bird. 



It must be a matter of congratulation to members of the Field 

 Naturalists' Club that the extension of our game laws, and the 

 addition of the majority of the useful birds, is to be ascribed to 

 the labours of certain members of this Club, backed up by the 

 Zoological Society ; and in the opinion of the writer of these 

 notes, the farmers, vignerons, and fruit-growers of this colony 

 owe the above societies a deep debt of gratitude for having 

 drawn their attention, before it was too late, to the probable 

 destruction of the most useful of our insect-destroying birds. 



It may not be out of place to mention here that a very 

 interesting paper is to be found on page 471 of "The Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society of London for the Year 1868," 

 on " Observations concerning the Presence and Function of the 

 Gular Pouch in Otis kori and Otis ajisiralis" by James Murie. 

 Another paper, also of much interest, was read on the 23rd May, 

 1874, before the Zoological Society of London, by A. H. Garrod, 

 " On the ' Showing Off' of the Australian Bustard ( Europodotis 

 australis)." 



The only, and probably the most difficult, matter to be dealt 

 with now is to see that the law, as determined by the Honourable 

 the Commissioner of Customs, in whose hands the administration 

 of the Game Act lies, is strictly carried out ; and in my letter 

 communicated to the Government, I have suggested a certain 

 course which will, I trust, have the desired effect. The locust 

 scourge has been, and now is, a terrible one, and it behoves all 

 of us to do even a little whereby the pest, which, if it cannot 

 altogether be eradicated, may be kept within reasonable and 

 manageable limits. 



No. II. will treat of the Southern Stone Plover ( (Edicnemus 

 ^rallarius) and the Tawny-shouldered Podargus (Podargus 

 strigoides). 



