662 



spear held, so he climbed up the line into the sky. Moved 

 by the waitings of his dusky co-sinners he, on arrival in the 

 sky, pulled up first one and then the other. In proof of 

 the truth of this legend the blacks to-day point to the three 

 great stars in Orion, and to the hill, on which could formerly 

 be seen the ashes of the burnt wurlie. When Nurundie, the 

 all-powerful, found that his victims were beyond his reach 

 he waxed exceedingly wrathful. He caught all the game 

 — the mammoth kangaroos, emus, and others — and tore them 

 to pieces. 



No more do we find these mighty denizens of our Aus- 

 tralian wilds; their fragments now live as kangaroos, walla- 

 bies, toolachees, emus, turkeys, plover — all of the smaller 

 dimensions of moderate degenerate days. 



Duncan Forbes Laurie. 

 June 14, 1917. 



Notes on Various Birds. 



At the meeting held on July 12, 1917, Mr. Edwin 

 Ashby exhibited the skin of one of the rarest visitants to 

 Australia (Hi/drochelidon leucoptera grisea, Mathews), 

 Eastern White- winged Tern. Mr. Mathews, in his "Birds of 

 Australia," says this bird was added to the Australian avi- 

 fauna by Mr. Gould in 1866, but it was regarded with sus- 

 picion by later ornithologists. Later Mr. Mathews established 

 it as a rare visitor, and quotes three instances of its occurrence 

 besides the one quoted by Mr. Gould. The last occurrence 

 recorded is believed to be forty-nine years ago. This year 

 they have visited Western Australia in considerable numbers, 

 the specimen shown having been shot on the Swan River, near 

 Perth, in April last, and being the first Australian skin 

 exhibited in South Australia. These birds breed in China, 

 and at certain seasons extend their range as far as Java. Why 

 this year they have visited Australia is a question not easily 

 solved. 



Also skin of the swift Lorikeet (Lathamus discolor), 

 which was obtained at Blackwood in July, 1914. The pre- 

 vious records for this bird's occurrence in South Australia 

 were 1862 and 1882. During the past month this parrot has 

 again put in an appearance, several small flocks having been 

 noticed flying swiftly over Mr. Ashby's property. 



Mr. Ashby also exhibited a complete series of the Aus- 

 tralian Cuckoo Shrikes. While in Gould's work they were all 



