The Emu. 
149 
owing to the poisoning off of the dingoes and the supplying 
of regular work and food to the natives. — JoE Bradshaw. 
St. Kilda, Victoria. 
* ^ * 
Snipe on Migration. — I observed two flights of Snipe {Gal- 
linago australis) passing over Sorrento, going north, on the 25th 
January. They had evidently crossed Bass Strait from the islands 
there or from Tasmania. They flew very low for snipe. They 
seemed to be heading towards Mud Island. I saw them at 
about 5 a.m., whilst I was making for a distant spot to fish off 
the rocks facing Bass Strait. There were in the first flight 
about 20 birds, and in the second lot about 10 or 12, which 
passed about seven or eight minutes after. — A. Mattingley. 
* * * 
Migration of Swifts. — A flight of many hundreds of 
Spine-tailed Swifts {Chcetura caudacutd) passed over Bass Strait 
on 7th February, apparently from Tasmania, making their way 
due north. They were flying low and catching insects as they 
went, and were evidently migrating to the Northern Hemi- 
sphere, where they breed. I should be glad to know if any 
member of the Aust. O.U. has ever seen one of these birds 
resting either on a tree or on the ground. — D. Le Souef. 
A severe whirlwind passed through Richmond and Burnley, 
suburbs of Melbourne, on the afternoon of 24th February, 1902. 
As it advanced, a party of Swifts was observed circling high 
up among the debris that was drawn up, finding there probably 
a number of insects caught up in the aerial whirlpool. — A. G. 
Campbell, Armadale. 
From Magazines* 
In the first (January) number of the Agricultural Journal of 
Victoria Mr. Charles French, F.L.S., Government Entomologist, 
contributes a chatty and useful article on " Economic Ento- 
mology and Ornithology," dealing chiefly with the former 
science, upon which he is so well able to write. He mentions 
that " the fruit-growers of Victoria and elsewhere are partially 
indebted for the large increase of insect pests, all and sundry," 
to so-called sportsmen — " pot-hunters," &c. — who have shot and 
" still continue to shoot down our valuable insectivorous birds." 
This is true, but may not the inevitable reclaiming of forested 
and bush lands for cultivation by orchardists and farmers 
themselves — thus destroying the natural domains of these birds 
— have also contributed in some measure to the decrease of 
valuable insect-eating birds ? 
