132 Stray Feathers. [,sf"oct. 



Great Brown Kingfisher and Heron. — A day or two since I was 

 walking along a forest gully when I heard simultaneously the 

 pained screech of a White-fronted Heron and the boastful laugh 

 of a Jackass, and saw both birds fly from the ground, the Heron 

 apparently injured. At a small pool in the sandy gully there 

 were two splashes of blood on the sand, and the water was bloody. 

 The Jack had evidently made a wanton swoop at the Heron, 

 and then flew, with the boastful laugh, to his mate, seeming to 

 say, " I put in one on him, anyhow." — J. R. Chisholm. Prairie 

 Table-land, North Queensland. 



Crested Bell-Birds and Caterpillars. — I was interested in the 

 remarks upon this subject in the last Emu. During my many trips 

 and expeditions into the interior I have examined hundreds of Bell- 

 Birds' (Oreoica cristata) nests, but never once, where the nest 

 has been occupied by eggs or young, have the caterpillars been 

 absent. I am not at all sure that the Crested Bell-Bird does not 

 eat these caterpillars, for heads of caterpillars are found in numbers 

 in their stomachs, and I know for certain that these very cater- 

 pillars are eaten in great numbers by the Pallid Cuckoo. — S. A. 

 White. " Wetunga," Fulham, S.A., 19/9/18. 



Nests of Banded Finches. — Banded Finches [Stictoptera 

 hichenovii) frequently nest in our garden in the spring of the year, 

 and the interesting part of it is that they invariably choose an 

 orange or lemon tree in which to build. One tree is a special 

 favourite, apparently because the leaves are denser, and last year 

 nine pairs of these little birds built in it. This shows one that all 

 these nine pairs of birds had the same thought running in their 

 minds when they were choosing the nesting tree, otherwise why 

 should they have all chosen the same one ? It could hardly be 

 for company, as other trees were close by, and in them also were 

 two or three nests. I have never noticed so many nests of these 

 birds on one tree anywhere in the bush, although I have often 

 found a single one. — Mary Curwen-Walker. " Midken," via 

 Moree, N.S.W. 



* * * 



Tasmania's National Park. — It may interest the readers of 

 The Emu to know that Tasmania has now a National Park. This 

 is to be an absolute sanctuary for the fauna of the island, and, 

 although such a reservation was practically a necessity, it took 

 years to obtain. The reserve embraces an area of 27,000 acres, 

 and includes practically the whole of the Mount Field Range, 

 about 50 miles north-west from Hobart. It also includes the 

 famous Russell Falls. Several fairly large lakes and numbers of 

 small tarns are included in the area. Certain forms of bird-life 

 are very plentiful on the mountain slopes, and their numbers will 

 doubtless increase as soon as the birds recognize that the area is 



