VERNACULAR, NAMES FOR AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 
445 
Still further north, along the same coast, I am informed by Mr. 
T. Carter that he received from Fraser Island an egg of the Osprey, 
taken at the beginning of August, 1893. 
With regard to the Pan d ion nesting on the eastern coast, Dr. 
Ramsay described eggs in 1875 ; and Mr. North again recently 
described two eggs taken by Mr. John 53. Bamsay, on the 15th 
August, 1880, from a nest in the Wide Bay district, and another 
clutch of three eggs taken on the Mary River, Queensland, in 1882 ; 
while we have Mr. K. Broadbeut’s own valuable field observations of 
the Osprey made in Northern Queensland, where the bird finds its 
most suitable living about the mouths of the rivers, and is prevalent 
at Cardwell, where it breeds during the month of June. He once 
saw one of these birds capture a fish weighing about 5 lb., lift it 
from the water, and fly away with ease. 
Though Gould himself shot an Osprey in Recherche Bay, 
Tasmania, the bird is not usually found so far south, preferring 
more the tropical and sub-tropical coastal line. 
Breeding season extends from June to November. 
7.— MEMORANDUM RELATIVE TO A VERNACULAR LIST OF 
NAMES FOR AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 
By Colonel W. 0. LEGGE , F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 
For the last forty years (since about which time the population of 
these colonies has increased so as to number in its ranks collectors, 
field naturalists, sportsmen, and others taking an interest in the birds 
of this continent) the necessity for a list of suitable and applicable 
English names has been keenly felt. The writer brought the matter 
under the notice of the president of the biological section of the 
Australasian Association at the Hobart meeting, when it was sug- 
gested by Professor Baldwin Spencer that he should undertake the 
task himself, and submit such a list for the consideration of Australian 
naturalists at the forthcoming meeting. On the grounds that he was 
resident on the outskirts of the Australian ornithological region, and 
therefore did not occupy a central position, he declined, recommending 
instead the establishment of local committees to carry out the work as 
regards each colony. Subsequent consideration, however, led to the 
conclusion that this was not a practicable method, inasmuch as the birds 
of one colony are largely found in the adjacent colonies, and would 
probably receive different names at the hands of different committees. 
The best solution of the difficulty would therefore appear to be the 
compilation of a list by one naturalist, just as the original so-called 
English names were applied by one author — Gould — in the first 
instance. On the request of Dr. Stirling that a tentative list should 
be prepared by Mr. Campbell and myself, I undertook the preliminary 
work of drawing up a catalogue of names, in the preparation of which 
the entire group of Australian birds was examined from specimens and 
plates — mostly the latter — with a view to observation of characteristic 
features of plumage; and the conclusions as to befitting names 
thereby arrived at were combined with others based on a study of the 
