26 
The Kmu. 
"Astray" for 77 years ! Recently (April, 1901) I described a 
black and white Malurus (M. edouardi) in the Victorian 
Naturalist. Since I have been induced to refer to Quoy and 
Gaimard's original figure of M. leucopteriis, which Gould queried, 
and substituted for the species his own blue and white figure 
(vol. iii., pi. 25). This transposition was apparently accepted as' 
being correct by the "British Museum Catalogue" (vol. iv.,p. 290). 
In Quoy and Gaimard's figure I at once recognized a generally 
fair drawing of edouardi. Should the black and white Wrens 
of Barrow Island and Dirk Hartog Island (isolated localities 
about 500 miles apart) eventually prove the same species, then 
after a lapse of 77 years the real M. leiicopterus has been re- 
discovered, while Gould's long-standing provisional M. cya?totus 
will become the proper name for the blue and white bird. 
A. J. C. 
* * * 
Dr. Charles Ryan, when out quail-shooting, near Mel- 
bourne, the season just closed, captured a number of Plain 
Wanderers. In one day he caught six. The Wanderers squatted 
so closely (sometimes on the bare ground without any cover) 
before the dogs that the Doctor had only to drop his hat on the 
sitting bird. The captives, which are exceedingly tame, have 
been divided among some private aviaries, where the birds exhibit 
indications of breeding. 
:^ * * 
Mr. E. D. Barnard, about the middle of July, found near 
Gladstone, Queensland, a nest containing eggs of the Spotted 
Ground Bird ( Cindosoma punctatuvi ). Surely a northern range 
and an early season for this species. 
* # * 
"Painted Fik cues (£md/ema picta) have been quite com- 
mon lately (June)." — Tom Carter, Point Cloates, W.A. 
From Magazines, 
A CORRESPONDENT in a recent number of T/ie Ibis chronicles 
the fact that the Rhinoceros or Buffalo Bird ( Buphaga) has 
earned the vernacular name sometimes applied to it (Beef Bird) 
by combining with its old quest for insects on the skins of cattle, 
&c., an attack on the bodies of the beasts. It is now, like the 
Kea of New Zealand, a flesh-eater. It would be interesting in 
such a case to discover why the change of habit took place. 
The only change of environment apparent at first sight is the 
substitution of sheep, oxen, &c., for the native fauna, and for 
many years after the introduction of these animals the Buphaga 
was looked upon with favour by the settlers. Its bad habits are 
of recent growth. 
