THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 179 



Association for the Advancement of Science, vol. vii., refers to 

 P. rufogularis as probably P. gutturalis in immature plumage. 

 This I believe to be the latest record of the bird prior to the 

 " Key to the Birds of Australia," and it presents the question as 

 an unsettled one. 



The following is the order of dates when references to this so- 

 called species were made : — 



1848— Gould, Birds of Aust., fol., vol. ii., pi. 70, id. Hand- 

 book. 



1883 — Gadow, British Mus. Cat. of Birds, vol. viii., p. 209. 



1888 — Ramsay, Tabular List Aust. Birds, p. 5. 



1895 — Campbell, Geelong Naturalist, vol. v., No. 2, p. 4. 



1898 — Australasian Assoc. Advt. Science, vol. vii., p. 137. 



1899 — Hall, Key to Birds Aust., p. 33. 

 Credit is due to Mr. Campbell for making the suggestion in 

 the Geelong Naturalist that P. rufogularis is the young of P. 

 gutturalis, additional to which I now place before you the skins — 

 one in particular — that clearly serve as connecting links and 

 demonstrate the plumage development of P. gutturalis, Lath., 

 from the youngest nestling to the fully adult male and female. 

 The detail descriptions of these phases appear in the " Pro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria," vol. xiii. (new series), 

 part i., 1900. 



A VISIT TO THE RIVERINA DISTRICT, NEW SOUTH 



WALES. 



By D. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S. 

 (Bead before the Field Naturalists'' Club of Victoria, 10th Dec, 1900.) 



This district has this year been blessed with a fair rainfall, and 

 the Murray River was high at the time of my visit, consequently 

 the various lagoons near its banks were filled with the overflow 

 of its waters, and also sufficient rain fell on the plains to fill the 

 different swamps, which enabled wildfowl to breed, for, as is well 

 known, Waders and other waterfowl will not nest unless there is 

 a sufficient amount of water to meet their requirements ; so in a 

 dry season, such as has previously been in this district, the various 

 breeding grounds of the Cormorants, Herons, &c, were practi- 

 cally deserted, as the birds would probr ./ not have been able to 

 find sufficient food for their young when hatched, as a dry season 

 means a great dearth in insect life. 



I now purpose describing and illustrating a little of the bird 

 and other life that I noticed in this interesting district, in the 

 neighbourhood of Deniliquin, when I visited it in October last. 

 The principal food supply of many of the birds is caterpillars and 

 grasshoppers. The former are very plentiful in August and Sep- 



