Vol. XVIII. 

 1919 



] Stray Feathers. 303 



has, so far, attended observations ; one individual was noted 

 on 12th January, flying at a tremendous pace, as if seeking 

 companions, but none lias been seen since. The season has been 

 dry and windy, with a cold snap during the fourth week of January, 

 when snow fell on the Tiers within sight of Devonport ; since then 

 we have had a good deal of heat. — H. Stuart Dove. Devonport, 

 Tas. 



Snakes and Young Birds. — A tragic episode, as far as the Orange- 

 tipped Pardalote {Panialotiis assiinilis) was concerned, was 

 perpetrated by a Brown Snake {Diemenia textilis), 4 feet 6 inches 

 long. On the 13th October, 1917, at Blacktown, N.S.W., I was 

 walking along the bed of a dry creek when I came upon a male 

 darting down and up again, and on looking over in its direction 

 I saw the tail end of a snake dangling from a hole in the bank. 

 I promptly despatched the snake, and on examination I saw that 

 it had gorged two young Pardalotes which were fully fledged ; 

 the third was in the process of serving the same fate, the fourth 

 was dead in the nest, and the female was dead in the burrow, 

 she evidently being crushed in her struggles to escape. There 

 is not the slightest doubt tliat many of our small ground- 

 frequenting birds succumb to these insidious and lethal reptiles. 



Rare Birds. — Owing probably to the drought in other quarters, 

 certain rare nomadic birds have visited the Bega (N.S.W.) 

 district this summer. The Great White Egret and Yellow-billed 

 Spoonbill have appeared about the lagoons and ponds, and, on 

 the outskirts of the town of Bega, I observed a White-necked 

 Heron feeding about a mud-hole excavated for water in the bed 

 of a swamp. The Regent-Bird (also very rare in this quarter) 

 appeared in January, and also the " Barley-Bird," or Fantail- 

 Warbler. The latter sometimes appears on Monaro highlands in 

 summer. I have found the cosy nest in Californian thistles, then 

 grown tall and crowned with perfumed purple flowers. Of South 

 Coastal (N.S.W.) birds I think two of the rarest are the Little 

 Bittern and the Pilot-Bird. I have observed the latter twice in 

 dense scrubs near the sea, and the Little Bittern once only, on 

 the mud flats of an estuary. About two years ago a Painted 

 Snipe was shot on the margin of a Monaro river, but it is very 

 rare in that quarter. — H. V. Edwards. 



Powerful Owl and Ring-tailed Possum. — During my frequent 

 visits to the hut at Selby, I had heard the call of this bird, but 

 seldom saw it. What was my joy, on a recent week-end, when 

 investigating the excreta under the big trees in the gully, to see 

 a pair of these birds in the early afternoon perched about 40 feet 

 above ground in a rough-barked messmate ! Closer investigation 



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