308 Camera Craft Notes. [,sfAprn 



On the Macquarie and other Antarctic islands they congregate 

 in immense numbers — in one case well over a million birds — to 

 go through the necessary process. They seem to take off many 

 of the moulting feathers with the help of their bills. The feathers 

 of the upper portion of the bird seem to come off first, and in 

 patches, more or less, the whole process taking about a week, 

 and the last to be discarded seem to be those of the tail. The 

 illustration shows those moulted in one night only from a speci- 

 men in the Melbourne Zoological Gardens of the Royal Penguin 

 {Eudyptes schlegeli), from the Macquarie Islands. It is difficult 

 to realize what an immense number of feathers must be shed, 

 say by a million birds, and how matted the soil must be with 

 them. Then we have to remember that this goes on year after 

 year, and must affect the character of the soil of the rookeries, 

 in course of time, as they get mixed up with the mud and slush. — 

 W. H. D. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S. Zoological Gardens, Parkville. 



Tawny Frogmouth {Podargiis strigoides). — Probably no perching 

 bird is more difiixult to detect than Frogmouths. They almost 

 invariably sit lengthways on the bough, and, should any danger 

 approach, stretch their head straight out and partially close their 

 eyes, making their body look exactly like a broken-off bough. 

 I remember, many years ago, when nesting with a well-known 

 medical member of the R.A.O.U., finding the nest of one of these 

 birds, but we both came to the conclusion that someone had found 

 the nest before we had, and had thrown a stick across the nest 

 and probably broken the eggs ; anyhow, I climbed up to make 

 quite certain, when, to our surprise, what we thought was a stick 

 flew off the nest, in which was an egg. I am afraid our confidence 

 in ourselves was taken down several pegs at being so deceived, 

 as we both fancied our powers of observation. I have never yet 

 found a female bird sitting either on the eggs or young during 

 the day, but always the male, and the female usually perched in 

 a neighbouring tree ; she probably takes her turn at night. The 

 illustration was taken close to the Midpin homestead, near Moree, 

 in New South Wales. Both birds were on the tree, and we only 

 caught sight of one by chance, and the other was not detected 

 until I was taking the photograph. — W. H. D. Le Souef, C.M.Z.S. 

 Zoological Gardens, Parkville. 



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I have always found it a somewhat hazardous undertaking, 

 from an artistic viewpoint, to photograph a bird among green 

 leaves while the sun is shining strongly. Particularly is this the 

 case in regard to fruit trees, the leaves of which glint and gleam 

 under the influence of the sun in a manner most inimical to 

 photographic effectiveness. This factor has interfered on several 

 occasions with attempts I have made to secure good studies of 

 the White-shouldered Caterpillar-eater {Campephaga humeralis), 

 and in November last it operated in respect of a pair of Scarlet- 



