140



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On my Visit to Australia.


well in Melbourne, their house being built with a cool aspect and

containing a large bath in the centre.


The Owl cages were miserably small and not worthy of

their occupants, which included most of the commoner Australian

Owls, and some specimens of the Frogmoutli (. Podargus ).


The wild birds that frequent the Melbourne Zoological

Gardens are worth mentioning. The most numerous is the

European Tree Sparrow, next comes the House Sparrow and the

Starling. I pointed out to the Director that the great majority of

the Sparrows which infest his gardens are Passer mo?itanus , a

fact he had not noticed, and which struck me as somewhat extra¬

ordinary, as the sparrows met with in the city itself were certainly

our old friend Passer domesticus. I saw the Goldfinch there also,

and Blackbirds and Thrushes. A pair of Laughing Jackasses

were proving themselves somewhat of a nuisance in the way of

swallowing young ducks, &c., and Mr. Le Souef told me he

should be obliged, he feared, to shoot them. Honey-eaters were

often seen and occasionally the Common Wood-Swallow ( Artamus

sordidus), and the Tame Magpies* were often joined by wild

ones. The most interesting sight I observed there was witnessed

one evening, after closing time when, in company with the

Director and Mr. Archibald Campbell, I walked round the Gar¬

dens at sunset. On almost every high tree were perched Nankeen

Night Herons ( Nycticorax caledonicus ) and numbers were flying

about. One huge Willow-tree was literally covered with these

quaint-looking birds, many of which flew up from the ponds as

we approached. Every evening they come here in hundreds,

and the sight was one to be remembered.


(To be conthmed ).



Quite a number of tlie hitherto almost unknown Black-cheeked

Lovebird (Agapornis nigrigenis) have recently been offered for sale by the

English dealers, who have we believe obtained them from Germany.



The White-backed Piping- Crow, Gymnorhina leuconoia.



