John McGillivray, the former naturalist on the HMS Rattlesnake, resided for
a couple of year in South Grafton, with James Fowler Wilcox, who had also
been a naturalist on the HMS Rattlesnake on the same voyage to Australia.
They worked together collecting specimens for museums throughout the world
and most were sent to Ramsay at the Australian Museum by steamer. John
wrote letters to accompany the specimens and they were published in 1937 in
the Australian Zoologist by Tom Iredale. (T. Iredale, ‘The Last Letters of
John MacGillivray’, Australian Zoologist, vol 9, 1937, pp 40-63).
One reference in the letters states “We had a Jabiru (sic) for dinner a few
days ago (skinned of course), and it ate very well, but could not be
compared to a kangaroo rat (sic) some days previously.” The ‘Jabiru’ is
obviously the Black-necked Stork and the kangaroo rat is a Bettong, probably
a Rufous Bettong, which is still relatively common in the Grafton area.
Regards
Greg
Dr Greg. P. Clancy
Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide
| PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460
| 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960
www.gregclancyecologistguide.com
gregswildliferamblings.blogspot.com.au
I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which I
live and work – the Gumbaynggirr, Yaegl and Bundjalung peoples – and to
pay respect to their elders both past and present
—–Original Message—–
From: Denise Goodfellow
Sent: Monday, January 1, 2018 6:43 AM
To: birding-aus
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Fwd: Pecking order: how John Gould dined out on the
birds of Australia
>
> And not just the early ones! John McKean once told me that he had dined
> (or intended to) on all the species in the Top End.
>
> Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow Ph.D.
> PO Box 71
> Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841
> 043 8650 835
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 31 Dec 2017, at 8:49 pm, Laurie Knight < l.knight@optusnet.com.au>
> wrote:
>
>> Early ornithologists like to eat their subjects – see
>> www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/30/pecking-order-how-john-gould-dined-out-on-the-birds-of-australia
>>
>>
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