216 Letters , Extracts from Correspondence , Notices, fyc. 
* 
“ I was about to take a short trip to Burmah; but as our 
friend J-- is appointed to a station on the Sitang River, in 
Tenasserim, I start in a steamer in the course of a couple of 
days or so, and mean to accompany him at least as far as 
Maulmein.” 
The subjoined extract from the “Argus” of October 25th, 
1860, gives the most recent account of the progress of the 
experiment of the introduction of English Singing-birds into 
Australia, which has recently been undertaken at Melbourne. 
It will be observed that the little immigrants have adopted the 
Australian seasons, and begun to nest in October !:— 
“ The English birds at the Botanic Gardens are now all in a 
bustle. They seem perfectly awake to the character of the 
season. The little Warblers are busy in nest-building, and per¬ 
forming all the other tender offices which mark their proceedings 
at spring time. The Larks are already multiplying, and the 
Thrushes have nests both in the aviary and in the open air. 
The Starlings and Blackbirds which were brought out by the 
‘ Lincolnshire 9 and the f Essex 9 occupy a building in the Botanic 
Garden s 9 reserve, which is usually devoted, in the winter, to the 
accommodation of the Alpacas and other quadrupeds. Here 
they will remain until their plumage—lost or disordered on the 
voyage—is restored, when they will be removed to the aviary, 
and thence to the open air. A similar house holds a number of 
Thrushes that are nest-building in the orange and Japanese 
spindle-trees which are placed there. In the aviary the same 
interesting process is going on. There the Goldfinch, the 
Linnet, and the Java Sparrow have nests, as well as the Thrush 
and the Quail—due care, however, being taken for the separa¬ 
tion of the peaceable from the pugnacious birds. The Pheasants 
are engaged in egg-laying, and for the work of incubation the 
assistance of some Bantam fowls has been secured. The whole 
of the arrangements for the preservation of the birds which 
have been sent from England, and the propagation here of the 
feathered tribes of the old country—thanks to the indefatigable 
Dr. Mueller—are as complete as can be desired.” 
