Notes on the, Gold-field of Ballarat. 409 
white ; the long upper coverts are reddish brown, banded 
with brown, and broadly tipped with grey above, and the 
long terminal ones are tipped with white. The under parts 
of the body are brown, largely tipped with grey and white. 
Feathers of the thighs are greyish ; feet and claws dark 
brown. 
Length of wing from flexure, 12 inches. The bill is of a 
light horn colour, especially at the sides and tip. 
The bird is probably an old female ; and the ovaries ap- 
peared to be very small or atrophied. 
It was shot in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld, in the end 
of March. 
Mr Small, bird-stuffer, George Street, has kindly sent along 
with the bird fine specimens of the male and female for 
comparison. 
The only other specimen of this variety which I have seen, 
or heard of in this country, was one killed in the same neigh- 
bourhood, and exhibited to the Society, in December 18{)2. 
It was not quite of such a length as the specimen now ex- 
hibited ; which, I am glad to say, has been acquired for our 
valuable Museum of Science and Art. 
Mr Yarrell copies a figure of this variety in his " British 
Birds," as having been noticed in Scandinavia. 
3. There w^as also exhibited one of our regular and earliest 
summer visitors — the Saxicola cenantlie^ the w^heat-ear. It 
was taken about the middle of the month of March, on ship- 
board out in the Atlantic, about 500 miles from our shores, 
having been probably carried away by the easterly winds 
when on its northern migration. 
VII. N-^tes on the Gold-Jitld of Ballar at, Australia. By Adam Smith, 
Esq., Ballarat. Communicated bj Dr John Alex. Smith. (With 
exhibition of specimens of rocks, maps, &c,) 
The following notes were written without any idea of their 
being published, in reply to the queries of a relative, 
asking for some information about the Ballarat gold-field. 
They are simply extracts from a private letter which ap- 
VOL. III. 3 G 
