202 TiowE, A New Trait of the Goldfinch. [isf April 



the neighbourhood. Any small mischief which is clone in this 

 way can be readily forgiven both on account of the beauty and 

 grace of the bird and the good which it does in destroying large 

 quantities of thistle and other weed seeds. 



While watching our little friend feeding at the cornflower in 

 the suspended manner just described, one could not help specu- 

 lating as to whether a second species of " Humming-Bird" was 

 in course of development in our island. 



Stray Feathers. 



Finches and Grass-Parrots. — It is interesting that Finches seem 

 to prefer the hot drip from sun-heated pipes to reservoir water. 

 They come in hundreds to the hot pipe, though the big water-hole 

 is but 200 yards distant. It is evening as I write ; about 500 

 Bee-eaters are all flying up and down around a tree close to the 

 home, evidently going to roost in it. At the reservoir, in the 

 dry weather, thousands of Warbhng Grass-Parrots (Budgerigars 

 of the trappers) watered in large flocks. The Black-tailed Native- 

 Hen is sometimes around the water-holes. The season is dry, 

 but patchy rains have fallen, which are not sufficient to warrant 

 the birds going back to the rivers.- — J. R. Chisholm. The Plains, 

 Prairie Table-land, North Queensland. 



Cuckoo Seen with Egg. — Arthur P. Ingle, late of Rosedale, 

 Victoria, who was a keen bird-observer and enthusiastic oologist, 

 was killed while fighting with the Australian troops at Passchen- 

 daele, in Belgium, on 12th October, 1917. His collection of eggs, 

 by the generosity of his father, passed into my possession. It 

 contained a clutch consisting of tw^o eggs of a Blue Wren- Warbler 

 {Maliirus cyaneus) and one egg of a Narrow-billed Bronze-Cuckoo 

 {Chalcococcyx hasalis), which he had taken, and which is worthy 

 of special notice because of the rare instances of authentic records 

 of a Cuckoo being seen with an egg. The notes with this clutch 

 contain the following particulars : — " I saw the Cuckoo take 

 the Wren's egg away in her bill after having deposited her own 

 in its place." — J. A. Ross. Malvern, 1/3/19. 



The Spine-tailed Swift {Chatura caudacula). — The variation in 

 number of these fine birds in different seasons is very remarkable. 

 During January, February, and March, and great part of April, 

 1917, they were seen in numbers, appearing at all altitudes-^ — 

 from 20 feet to the limit of visibility. Last summer (1918) not a 

 bird came within my ken, although I was constantly on the 

 look-out. Some were seen by a friend in April, apparently just 

 about to leave for the North. This summer the same non-success 



