issue forth, strong and feathered, so as to be
capable of flight on the third day after their
birth. The male bird is the principal director
of this singular process of incubation. He heaps
the mound together by a scraping motion of his
powerful feet, and as soon as it has been raised
to the height of about four feet, both birds
contrive to reduce it to an even surface, then scoop
a hollow in the middle, and in due time the eggs
are arranged, about fifteen inches deep, in a circle
at regular intervals, with the smaller end of the
egg downwards. The male bird also watches
the temperature of this natural oven. A hole
is left to admit air to the eggs, and on hot days
they are nearly uncovered two or three times
between morning and evening. In about a
month all this care is rewarded. After breaking
the egg, the young bird makes no effort to come
out, until the second day—and even then, in the
afternoon, instead of seeking shelter under the
wings of its mother, it returns to its first home,
and is carefully covered up by the assiduous
parents, but at a less depth than the original
circle of eggs. On the third day, the nestling,
which may be said to spring from mother earth,
is capable of flight. This fowl, the turkey of
Australia, is a shy bird, roosting in trees. The
average weight of the egg, the shell of which
is very thin, is about eight ounces; the weight
of the male bird is about four pounds and a
half, and the flesh is said to be very delicate,
tender, and juicy. We may all heartily wish,
for our own sakes, great success to the English
Acclimatisation Society. Animated by something
of its own spirit, a single English nobleman,
the late Earl of Derby, once indulged in
the costly luxury of sustaining at his seat at
Knowsley, at his own expense, no less than
fifteen hundred animals. Public co-operation
can do, in a matter of this kind, more, and at
far less cost, than the most enlightened private
generosity, working alone. With the advantage
her vast territories afford, it would be a reproach
to Great Britain were we to permit ourselves to
be surpassed by the efforts of the rival Société
d'Acclimatation at their new and splendid
gardens in the Bois de Boulogne at Paris.

At any rate we have one colony determined
that if the mother country be too well content
with her natural and acquired wealth, she, with
a broad new region to stock as well as people,
will apply in the directest manner science and
system to the achievement of that which has
been in the old country hitherto the work of
time, and taste, and chance. France herself is
rivalled by Australia in energy of regard for the
work of acclimatisation.

In the month of February, 1861, Mr. Edward
Wilson (a man well known as an indefatigable,
untiring worker) announced a meeting of gentlemen
in Melbourne to consider the propriety of
establishing a society in Victoria. They met at
the Mechanics' Institution, and the result was
that a provisional committee was named, which,
as the society grew, changed into a permanent
council, with the governor, Sir Henry Barkly,
as patron, Mr. Edward Wilson as president, Dr.
Mueller the far-famed botanist as vice-president,
while the duties of hon. treasurer were
kindly undertaken by Mr. T. J. Sumner (of
Greci, Sumner, and Co.), and those of hon.
secretary by Mr. W. H. Archer, the registrar-
general. The council consisted of fourteen
other members, warm friends of the cause. A
secretary and collector were appointed, and this
society was fairly set a-going.

Not content to rest here, in August, 1861, Mr.
Wilson visited Sydney, and while there inaugurated
the Acclimatisation Society of New South
Wales, which society is also now in a flourishing
condition. Again, in January, 1862, Mr. Wilson
paid a visit to Hobart Town, and succeeded in
establishing an Acclimatisation Society of
Tasmania, while one has spontaneously sprung
into existence at Auckland, under the name
of the Acclimatisation Society of New Zealand.
Now for some of the results. With
the exception of the Victorian one, all
these societies are yet too young for us to
predict with any certainty as to their chances of
success, and even with this one the experiments
are nearly all in their infancy; still, something
has been done. All the Australian colonies are
great sufferers from the want of soft-billed birds
to destroy the teeming insect life which is
nourished in the crops, often to their entire
destruction; therefore the society set about
introducing, and has succeeded in introducing
in sufficient numbers as to make their permanent
establishment only a question of time, the
thrush, blackbird, skylark, linnet, starling,
goldfinch, and chaffinch. Unfortunately, the sparrow,
the most useful of the whole (which we in
England are wickedly destroying only bitterly to
repent it at some future day), perished on the
voyage, but, nothing discouraged, the society
mean to try again. Among larger birds, the
gold and silver pheasant, the English pheasant
and partridge, and the Californian quail, have not
only been introduced, but have bred freely:
while the curassow, that magnificent South
American bird, seems likely to become
permanently added to the Australian poultry-yard.
In mammalia, the acclimatisation of the
camel, the Alpine, and the fallow deer, is
proceeding rapidly, and we see by the columns
of the Yeoman (a weekly paper intimately
connected with the Victorian Society) that
the colonial secretary of Natal has offered to
forward to Victoria, elands, hartebeests, buffaloes,
and ostriches, in exchange for some of the
alpacas. The greatest difficulty in the way, is the
want of direct communication between
Australia and Natal. At present the animals would
have to be transhipped at the Mauritius, and
possibly have to wait there for weeks for a
favourable opportunity of being forwarded.
The tediousness of this route is very fatal; as a
proof of which, we may mention that out of seven
ostriches shipped from the Cape, only one reached
Melbourne alive. Should this difficulty be
surmounted, and a herd of elands be landed in
Australia, we have no doubt, from the fineness of
the climate, they would as readily live and