Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 10 September 1921, page 8


AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE.

The second issue of "The Australian Museum Magazine" contains several features of great interest. Mr. Allan R. M'Culloch describes Lord Howe Island with particular reference to ita.'avlfauua. A good deal has been heard lately of the rat plague in the island, but few will have realised the extent of its ravages. In particular the bird life, in which Lord Howe was once so rich, has suffered most grievously. In five years this paradise of birds has become a wilderness, and the quiet of death reigns where all was melody. One cannot see how the happy conditions are to be restored. The very few birds remaining are unable to breeds, being either destroyed upon their nests or driven from them by the

rats and' their eggs eaten One can scarcely

imagine a greater calamity in the bird world than this tragedy which has overtaken the avifauna of Lord Howe Island. Mr. Charles Hedley writeR of the depths of the sea, and dispels some popular fallacies on the subject, and Mr. J. R. Kinghorn's article on some large non-venomous Australian snakes and their food is illustrated by some remarkable photographs. The aim of this magazine (which is one of the very few in the British Empire published under the auspices of a museum is to supply scientifically accurate information in a manner free from technicalities and com-prehensible to the layman. If it maintains its present standard its success is fully assured. (Published by the Australian Museum.)