24 
The Emu. 
Forgotten Feathers.^ 
By Edwd. a. Petherick, F.L.S., &c., Streatham, London. 
James Backhouse, who visited the colonies during the years 
1832 and 1837, when on a mission with Rev. Washington Walker 
for the Society of Friends, frequently refers in his letters to 
objects of natural history. 
When he came to Melbourne in November, 1837, he made 
several excursions up the Yarra to his friends, the Gardiners 
and Langhornes, and had opportunity of seeing nature in its 
original state round IMelbourne. 
On the 13th of that month he writes (after spending First 
Day with the Langhornes) : — 
" J. Gardiner conveyed us to Melbourne in his boat. The 
river is fringed with shrubs and trees the whole way and 
enlivened with the constant tinkling chirp of the Bell Bird ; 
the shrill whistle, terminated by a jerking sound, something like 
the crack of a whip of a coachman, is also occasionally heard 
here ; and we noticed the Nonkin Bird, a small species of 
Heron, cinnamon coloured on the back, sulphur on the breast, 
and with a long white feather in its head." 
Again, on the 15th November, he writes : — " The number of 
blacks in the vicinity of Port Phillip, including its whole circuit 
with Western Port, is estimated from 300 to 500. . . . The 
plants which yield them sustenance are . . . Kangaroos, 
Emus and other birds, and opossums are also generally eaten by 
the blacks, and are abundant, though the Emus are fast retiring 
before the white population and their flocks and herds. The 
large bird of the Crane kind, colonially called the Native Com- 
panion, and the Bustard, denominated Wild Turkey,, are also 
plentiful ; and there are yellow-tailed and red-tailed Black 
Cockatoos, round-headed White Cockatoos, Parrots of various 
kinds. Pelicans, Black Swans, Ducks of various kinds (one large 
species has a white patch upon the wing), White Hawks, greater 
Laughing Jackasses, Kingfishers, Quails, and various other 
birds, not to omit the Piping Crow, with its cheerful note, and 
the Black Magpie. . . . 
" Among the vegetable productions which mark this as an 
Australian settlement, and at once distinguish it from Van 
Diemen's Land, are the . . . and in the animal creation the 
tinkling voice of the Bell Bird is scarcely less striking and 
distinctive. . . 
" On the 1 6th November . . . after dining with John 
Batman, he presented us with some oval baskets, the manufac- 
ture of the blacks of this district. . . . The blacks often 
* As the early literature on ornithological notes is scarce and scattered, the editors 
invite, under this heading, any interesting items that may have been overlooked, for 
want of reference, by recent authors — notes likely to be found in old accounts of 
exploration or in scientific magazines. 
