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among that widely-distributed and large order of the Psittaci or parrot group there are only the five forms which are spread over all Australia that are common to north and south. These are the "red-collared Lorikeet” (Trichoglossis rubriforques), which feeds on honey of the eucalyptus-trees; the "white cockatoo" (Cacatua galerita), which ranges out of Australia into the Malay Archipelago as far as the Moluccas; the "many-coloured parrakeet" (Psephotis multicolour); the little "shell-parrot" (Melopsittacus undulatus), known also as the "betcherrygah" and "warbling grass-parrakeet"; and the "cockatiel" or "cockatoo parrot" (Calopsittacus Novœ Hollandœ), a beautiful and common cage bird pet. In pigeons, ibises, and egrets the north division is the richer, but the south is richer in quails, moorhens, and wild ducks. The emu, the crane, the wild "turkey" (Eupodotis Australis), the plovers, and the sandpipers are so well known and general in distribution as to call for no comment. The drongo is a northern bird which ranges from Madagascar through India and China to North Australia.

In viewing the distribution of sea-birds along the Western Australian coasts the Antarctic and Indian birds are seen to be much more prominent than they appear in the richer bird fauna of Eastern Australia. The "King Albatross," which accompanies every ship crossing the Great Australian Bight, does not come up the coast north of Cape Leeuwin, but Carter's Albatross is an ocean flier often seen at the North-West Cape. The small penguin (Eudyptula minor) is not uncommon along the south coast, and the frigate-bird and the "red-tailed" and the "white-tailed" tropic-birds are common on the north coast. Gannets are restricted to the north coast, but grebes and cormorants are very generally distributed.

Of distinct menace to the continuance of many forms of Australian bird life—if not to their ultimate extinction altogether—is the trade in ornamental bird skins. To this is superadded the wanton destructiveness of the sportsman and the ill-advised efforts of the agriculturists and fruit-growers, who regard certain species as pests to their industry. The trade in bird skins for the sake of plumage sadly needs legal regulation, and the different State Governments are now wakening to the fact. Emu skins have sold in London this year at 17s. 6d. each, and whole consignments of skins of the bower-bird were marketed there at 1s. 7d. per skin. The lyre-bird is now getting so scarce that only fifty-two tails were catalogued for sale in London during the first half of this year. Pigeons in North and East Australia and the small birds such as the "silver-eye" (Zosterops) and the parrots certainly do interfere with fruit- and grain-growing, but not nearly to the same extent as the introduced sparrows and starlings. Furthermore, the native bird never forsakes entirely the quest of its natural prey, the native insects, and its services to man in this respect are incalculable. The grasshopper and the caterpillar pests are kept down wholly by insect-eating birds such as the wild turkey and the ibis, yet these birds are shot whenever opportunity is afforded. The plumed egret (Mesophoyx piumifera) for the sake of its plumage is shot down by the thousand every year, and unless the millinery craze for its plumage is diminished a few years more will practically see these birds extinct in Australia. In each of the Australian States there is now a Government reserve area for the preservation of the native fauna and flora, but a more rigorous enforcement of the laws regulating the shooting of wild birds and a "close" season each year is an immediate want, and one severely felt.

The reptilia and amphibia of any region are always interesting subjects for study on account of the very ancient lineage of these creatures. Their advent into the animal kingdom far antedates that of birds and mammals, hence their present distribution and development furnish a valuable clue to a country's past geological history. The simpler or more elementary is the organization either in plant or animal life the more widespread will it be found to have been in area and the more ancient in geologic time. Reptile life requires very little oxygen, the digestion is remarkably slow, and the blood temperature is almost the same as the atmosphere or watery environment in which it dwells. Warmth and moisture are its two great requisites for existence, and as a normal feature the abundance of such life is greater toward the equatorial regions than in the reverse direction. It is a notable fact, however, in this connection that, though individually the snakes in temperate climates are less numerous than in hot regions, the number of poisonous species of snakes in proportion to the non-venomous kinds seems to increase in cold climates.

Crocodiles.—There are two varieties of crocodiles in Australia, and both are met with in the rivers of the north coast of Western Australia. One is the common Indian crocodile, which ranges eastward in the tropics, occasionally as far as the Fiji Islands. The other is the Crocodilus Johnstoni, and is an inoffensive creature.

Lizards.—Australia has some 300 species of lizards, and 105 of them occur in Western Australia. Of these species fifty-one are credited with being generally distributed throughout the State, but of the remainder no fewer than thirty-two are found within the north-west division, and fourteen of them absolutely restricted to it. There are twenty-seven species in the south-west division, of which fourteen are in like manner restricted