218 Miscellanies. 



their published voyages. I quote Cook's account from Kerr's Collec- 

 tion of Voyages and Travels, Vol. XIII, p. 318. It was Cook's first 

 voyage. Lizard Island is near the northeast coast of New Holland, 

 not far from Cape Flattery, and in about 15° S. lat. 



"At two in the afternoon," says Cook, " there being no hope of clear 

 weather, we set out from Lizard Island to return to the ship, and in 

 our way landed upon the low sandy island with trees upon it which we 

 had remarked in our going out. Upon this island we saw an incredible 

 number of birds, chiefly sea-fowl ; we found also the nest of an eagle 

 with young ones, which we killed ; and the nest of some other bird, 

 we knew not what, of a most enormous size. It was built with sticks 

 upon the ground, and was no less than six and twenty feet in circum- 

 ference, and two feet eight inches high. To this spot we gave the 

 name of Eagle Island, &c." 



Capt. Flinders found two similar nests on the south coast of New Hol- 

 land in King George's Bay. Not having his work at hand, I quote fi'om 

 the Quarterly Review for October, 1814, his description of these nests. 



" They were built upon the ground, from which they rose above two 

 feet, and were of vast circumference and great interior capacity ; the 

 branches of trees and other matter of which each nest was composed, 

 being enough to fill a cart." 



Now I suppose from the character of Captains Cook and Flinders, 

 we may place implicit confidence in the truth of these accounts. In- 

 deed, Cook was accompanied to Eagle Island by Sir Joseph Banks. 

 Equally certain is it that no known bird but the Dinornis would have 

 built so enormous a nest. I am led therefore almost irresistibly to in- 

 quire whether the Dinornis may not be an inhabitant of the coast of 

 New Holland, and still alive ! Even if extinct upon New Zealand, it 

 may have remained longer in the warmer climate of New Holland. 

 It may bo that these nests have been accounted for in some other way ;, 

 but if so, I have seen no other explanation. 



P. S. Feb. 1844. — Having occasion to give a lecture this winter be- 

 fore the Young Men's Association in Troy, N. Y., I had a drawing 

 made of the Dinornis of the natural size, on the type of the Apteryx 

 and Cassowary, and also of one of the nests described above, and I 

 assure you that the nest was only of a respectable size for a bird six- 

 teen feet high ! 



11. Festival in honor of Berzelius. — Last Saturday (says a corres- 

 pondent, writing from Stockholm, Nov. 14th, 1843) we had a festival 

 here of no ordinary interest. A quarter of a century having just elap- 

 sed since our celebrated countryman Baron Berzelius was appointed 

 Hon. Secretary of the Royal Academy of Science at Stockholm, which 

 most distinguished situation he still continues to occupy, the leading 



