Voi.xviii.j giy^y peaihers. 209 



friend has a mouse he sets off after the Magpie, and before many 

 minutes have elapsed the mouse drops to the ground, to be 

 immediately taken up by the Crow. In turn the Eagle, being 

 near all the time, sets off after the Crow, and in a very short time 

 he drops his prey, which is cleverly caught in mid-air by the 

 Eagle, who then retires to a convenient post to enjoy his mouse, 

 I notice also that if the Magpie comes in my direction his pursuers 

 do not follow him. I observe scores of these birds out on the 

 plains right into the middle of the nesting season which have 

 apparently no parental cares. I see them coming to their haunts 

 in the early morning and returning in the dusk ; but then the 

 drought which we are passing through might account for that. 

 We are having one of the coldest and driest winters on record, 

 and milk was frozen solid in the house on Thursday night. It is 

 nothing to get three weeks on end of frost. — E. R. Caldwell. 

 Gilgi, Pampas, Queensland, 20/9/18. 



Camera Craft Notes. 



The Brown Hawk. — The following important note from Mr. 



Tom Carter was too late to be included with the article 



published in the last number of The Emu on " Food of the 



Diurnal Birds of Prey." He states that on 21st January, 1916, 



he shot a Brown Hawk {Hieracidea occidentalis) in South- West 



Australia, which he suspected of evil intentions, as it was perched 



in a tree above a lot of feeding poultry. On examining the bird 



he found that its crop was packed full of large caterpillars and 



grubs. This shows that this particular Hawk is evidently of far 



more value to the farming community than it is generally given 



credit for. It is probably one of our commonest Hawks. — W. H. 



D. Le Souef. 



* * * 



The Spinebill {Acanthorhynchiis tenuirostris). — One of the most 

 beautiful-liveried of our southern Honey-eaters, the Spinebill has 

 been aptly named on account of its spine-like beak, which is 

 eminently adapted to sip the deep-seated nectar situate in long, 

 cylindrical, bell-like flowers and pendulous blossoms, because of 

 its long, slender, and somewhat recurvent structure. It is 

 indeed a fascinating sight to observe a pair of Spinebills fluttering 

 and hovering in front of a bunch of wild-flowers which are to be 

 found growing on a shrub. It is truly marvellous how the bird 

 can drink in the honeyed contents with the aid of its brush-like 

 tongue whilst suspended in mid-air in this manner, uttering mean- 

 while its shrill but musical note. It is thus able, whilst on flight, 

 to obtain the delectable contents of those flowers that are other- 

 wise inaccessible to it, especially those that would break off 

 owing to their fragility if alighted on by the bird when searching 

 for food. These dainty birds exhibit little fear, as a rule, when 



