32 Stray Feathers. V^^'^^^^y 



A Kagu Chick. — In reference to my notes on the Kagu {Rhino- 

 chetus jubatus) in The Emu, vol. iv., page i66, Mr. H. E. Finckh 

 (Sydney) has thoughtfully supplied me with the following interesting 

 remarks respecting the successful hatching of a Kagu chicken, 

 together with a photograph of the same, which is here reproduced. 

 (See Plate IV.) I believe the young of the Kagu has hitherto been 

 undescribed. Mr. Finckh states : — 



" On the 25th March, 1905, the birds paired, and on the 7th 

 April an egg was laid. On the seventh day the egg proved fertile, 

 and the birds sat on it for five weeks and one day, the male bird 

 sitting most of the time — I should say four out of the five weeks. 

 On the thirty-second day I observed the egg cracked, which cracks 

 closed entirely as the egg cooled when the bird left it to feed (to 

 keep the chick warm, I should think). I noticed the same for the 

 next three days, the egg at times appearing quite perfect. On 

 the next day (the thirty-sixth) the egg was indented, as if damaged 

 from the outside ; then I observed the male bird most carefully 

 peel the egg to about two-thirds without damaging the inside skin, 

 the chick moving freely and chirruping. Towards dusk he forcibly 

 broke the skin, laying the chick partly bare, and then sat on it for 

 the night. The next morning the young one was perfectly out and 

 dry — a lively, fluffy ball, with a big and heavy head. The old ones 

 were very anxious to feed it by taking up as many as six worms in 

 their bills and dangling them round its head. The chick seemed 

 very helpless, so I removed it at times and fed it with worms. The 

 female bird did not much object to my removing the young, but 

 the male always showed fight. The young took the feed readily, 

 and grew stronger, but very seldom opened its eyes, which were 

 very dull. Wet and cold weather then set in, the nest got a little 

 damp, and on the eighth morning, unfortunately, I found the chick 

 dead. The colour of the chick may be described as dark brown 

 with light fawn markings, while the legs and bill are brownish, and 

 the eyes black." — A. J. Campbell. 



Tasmanian " Strays." — Mr. H. C. Thompson, of Launceston, 

 a member of the A.O.U., has the following note in his diary, which 

 bears upon the question of the migration or otherwise of Petrceca 

 phcenicea at the approach of winter, as touched upon by Mr. A. G. 

 Campbell in his paper appearing in The Emu, vol. iv., p. 118 : — 

 " Launceston, Tas., 1904. Several Flame-breasted Robins were 

 observed feeding at a manure-heap in the corporation yard on 

 2ist, 28th, and 29th April, and as late as 15th June ; these birds 

 were very tame." 



Spine-tailed Swift {Chci'tura caudacitta). — Why is it that these 

 birds are seldom seen here until some date in February, and then 

 almost always after a storm of wind and rain ? My own theory is 

 that, as they subsist here chiefly upon flying ants, and upon the 

 winged forms of the termite (so-called "white-ant"), they time 

 their arrival to suit the appearance of these insects, which usually 



