Full moon this week, and last night was crisp and clear.
Photo of Litori ewingii by Douglas (dubh) McDonald. Published on Flickr.com, licensed under Creative Commons (some rights reserved)
From several spots around the neighborhood, the song of Litoria ewingii (Windows Media), the brown tree frog, not heard in these parts (by me) for about 18 months.
We’ve had a bit of rain lately, and the frogs are returning. How wonderful.
Searching for the links above, I happened upon Museum Victoria’sexcellent web site “Caught and Coloured: zoological illustrations from colonial Victoria.”
It tells the story of Frederick McCoy, a 19th century professor at the University where I now work. The Caught and Coloured site contains a couple of charming anecdotes about the wildlife on campus. McCoy was one of many academics who lived on campus, in cottages provided by the University.
The Caught and Coloured site also observes that:
Frederick McCoy was par excellence the dandy of the University, and one of the immaculates of the city. A contemporary describes him as “a spruce and dapper professor, a useful and withal an ornamental functionary.”
A good way to be remembered, methinks.
Releasing my inner librarian for a moment…Special Collections at the Baillieu and Earth Sciences have a lot of Frederick McCoy’s publications. Ok, beating inner librarian back in into submission now. Apologies for any disruption caused!