44 
The Emu. 
continent we may not unreasonably expect that the eggs of 
the White-belHed species may be found. 
Though much work remains to be done in connection with 
the feathered denizens of our coasts and seas, the vast territory 
comprised in our Commonwealth offers us a still grander field of 
labour. Difficulties in connection with climate and exploration 
have combined to make vast districts as yet almost inaccessible 
except to the intrepid and determined explorer; but whenever 
they have been penetrated, and the expedition accompanied by 
a collector, I think I am right in saying that they have nearly 
always rendered ornithological novelties, some of which, it may 
be remarked, have fallen to the share of our member, Mr. 
Keartland, I include in this category the Northern Territory, 
the extensive sub-littoral region round the Gulf of Carpentaria, 
York Peninsula, the north central region and north-west, lying 
at the head and along the courses of the Victoria and Fitzroy 
Rivers, and the ranges of the great interior, south and west 
of Lake Amadeus. All of these tracts have yet to yield 
further undcscribed species, possibly, of new desert-loving 
forms or hitherto undiscovered members of the Psittacidce. 
The Psittaci icE are, with the exception perhaps of the Honey- 
eaters, the most typical of Australian families, and a more intimate 
knowledge of the economy of the rarer species from the interior 
and northern parts of the continent, together with the discovery 
of their nests and eggs, is very desirable. In what better way 
could this be afforded us than by the publication of a mono- 
graph, with coloured plates, of every species of this beautiful 
group ? For the purpose of such a work exhaustive information 
must be got together, and access afforded to the best collections 
we have. An opportunity is thus within the reach of one of our 
New South Wales members to give to the world the result of a 
few years' hard work and devotion to the life-history of the 
Parrots. We might hope also to see the Melzpha^idce (Honey- 
eaters) treated in like manner. The members of this interesting 
family, so strongly represented in Australia, invite more attention 
by reason of their active and sprightly manners, and their lively 
notes, so typical of the vast Australian forests and " brushes," 
than the Parrots. The Honey-eaters, too, do not fall far behind 
the Parrots in the attractiveness of their plumage, which, though 
not so gaudy as the dress of the latter, is perhaps more striking, 
owing to the rich and handsome contrasts in their colouration. 
Details still wanting in connection with this family are descrip- 
tions of the nests and eggs of not a few species of northern 
habitat, whose nidification is not yet known to us. 
Special interest, likewise, attaches to the Me iphigidce on 
account of their near relationship to the beautiful family of the 
Sun Birds, which they may be said to represent in Australia, 
and to which the handsome genera Myzoiiiela and Acantho- 
rhyncJius connect them. The genus Myzomela, distributed over 
