The pilot of the Geelvink returned to the ship on the 3rd of February, and reported that he had passed through a channelprobably that which is now known as South Passageand had followed the coast of Dirk Hartogs Island until he reached the northern extremity of the island. There, upon an acclivity, a tin plate was found on the ground. Certain words scratched upon the metal indicated that the ship Eendragt, of Amsterdam, of which Dirk Hartog was master, had anchored off the island on the 25th of October, 1616, and had departed for Bantam on the 27th day of the same month. The pilot brought the metal platea attened tin dishwith him, and also two turtles which had been caught on the island. The squadron anchored in Dirk Hartogs Reede on the 4th of February, and remained there until the 12th day of that month.

The anonymous author of the Journaal relates that on the 6th of February many turtles were seen, and also a very large nest at the corner of a rock; the nest resembled that of a stork, but was probably that of an osprey, which places its nest on a rockoften on a rock surrounded by water. De Vlaming quitted the Australian coast at 21 S. lat., and proceeded to Batavia, where he arrived on the 20th of March, 1697. 1 Heeres, The Part borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia, p. 84. 2 No Cassowary is known to inhabit western Australia. 3 Wedge-tailed Eagles and also Ospreys build nests of sticks. NEW ZEALAND BIRDS IN 1772. CONTENTS

N ICHOLAS THOMAS MARION DUFRESNE was an ofcer in the French navy, and was born at St. Malo in 1729. In 1771 he was commissioned at his own desire to restore to the island of his birth a Tahitian who had accompanied Bougainville to France. He was also charged to ascertain if a continent or islands existed in the Southern Ocean whence useful products might be exported to Mauritius or Reunion.

The middle of the eighteenth century is approximately the period in which the collection and classication of exotic plants and animals became one of the chief objects of exploratory voyages. This was also one of the aims of the expedition under the command of Marion and Commerson, a botanist who had accompanied De Bougainville, was to have accompanied Marion also. But he was unable to go, so that no botanist and also no zoologist made the voyage. Crozet, however, who was second in command of the Mascarin, has left not a few observations relating to the birds which he saw at sea during the voyage, or in the countries which he visited. They are embodied in his book Nouveau Voyage la Mer du Sud.