Vol.xviii.j si^ay feathers. 75 



"Rooks Killing Sheep.— Damage in Hawke's Bay. — Farmers 

 in Hawke's Bay are complaining of depredations of Rooks 

 among their flocks. The Rooks have acquired the habit of 

 attacking not only lambs, but full-grown sheep, and the losses in 

 some parts of the district are becoming serious. The birds attack 

 the flocks not only in the daytime, but also during moonlight 

 nights, and one farmer near Farndon has lost scores nightly. The 

 Rooks attack the throats of the sheep, and numbers can be seen in 

 the paddocks with open wounds. One was seen with its head 

 completely severed with the exception of the spinal column. 

 The birds also eat the flesh right down the middle of the back, 

 rendering the skin quite useless. As the Rooks are protected, 

 the position is serious in some parts of the district. Representa- 

 tions are being made to the Government on the subject." The 

 above paragraph cutting is from the Auckland Weekly News, and 

 may be of some interest as showing some of the troubles of an 

 Acclimatization Society. — Communicated by Dr. T. J. Ick- 

 Hewins. Manaia, Taranaki. N.Z., 9/6/18. 



Birds and Caterpillars.— The interesting observations by Mrs. 

 Adam Black, of Charters Towers, on the " fearsome manner " 

 in which young Gouldian Finches open their mouths and wag 

 their heads when disturbed,* calls to mind the following note on 

 the young of Gerygone personata, which occurred in one of Dr. 

 Macgillivray's valuable papers f on the birds of North Queens- 

 land : — " The young birds have four peculiar head-plumes, which 

 they have the power of erecting and quivering vigorously. When 

 one looks into a nest these head-plumes are put into motion by 

 the birds, and remind one of a number of caterpillars waving 

 about." These notes are the more interesting to me in the 

 light of a recollection I have of a similarly curious experience 

 with a pair of baby Bell- Birds [Oreoica cristata). Wandering 

 through a bush recess in the vicinity of Maryborough (Vic.) on a 

 day in October of 1912, I chanced upon these two squatting in 

 a nest on a bushy stump. They were altogether uncanny-looking 

 objects. Though almost fully fledged, the tops of their heads 

 and a patch right down their respective backs were quite free of 

 feathers, and instead of the usual wide-eyed stare of inquiry the 

 visitor gets from most young birds, the eyes were tightly closed. 

 Both babes, in fact, might have been quite devoid of life ; but 

 when I touched them lightly there was a decided change of 

 tactics. The eyes remained closed, but the necks were out- 

 stretched, the sprouting feathers on the foreheads started, and 

 the heads waved in exactly the threatening manner of the tails 

 of processional caterpillars. Meanwhile, the old birds kept 



* Emu, vol. xvii., p. 228. 

 f Emu, vol. xiii., p. 166, 



