158 Stray Feathers. [iJ'jan. 



round rushes in swampy ground in the town, and quite close to 

 a road with much tralftc. I have been to the locahty to see for 

 myself, and flushed the birds, which may possibly breed again. 

 Again, at the local rifle butts, there is a Swallow's {Hirundo 

 neoxena) nest built in a old pair of trousers hanging up in the 

 marker's shelter alongside the target. I must say it is a very 

 remarkable thing to get these four nests in such unusual sites, 

 especially those in the old tins. The Crake's nest is made of the 

 round rushes only, and the tin is one of the size of a " lobster " 

 tin, and as the nest material is small in amount, it means that 

 the bird must have had to manoeuvre somewhat to get in, but 

 her long legs would doubtless come to her aid. — (Dr.) Ernest A. 

 D'Ombrain. Casterton, Victoria, 12/11/05. For the nest of the 

 Grey Thrush see Plate XII. 



LoNGREACH (0.) NoTES. — The Tricolored Chat {Ephthiamtrn 

 tricolor) was very rare on the Peak Downs before the drought, 

 but now flocks of 20 and 30 can be seen feeding on the ground, 

 generally on a bare red soil ridge with dead timber. Since I have 

 been working near Longreach I have seen flocks of 60 or 70, and 

 they are quite common in the Boree forest, where the soil is 

 brown. 



The Red-capped Robin [Peirccca goodenovi) is here now, but I 

 have seen only females, or else the males have lost their bright 

 colours. 



A great part of Central Queensland was visited last December 

 by an irruption of Native-Hens [Microtribonyx ventralis), upper 

 mandible green and lower red, much resembling in general 

 appearance a Game Bantam hen. They came in tens of thousands, 

 and ate the frontages of all waterholes quite bare, besides polluting 

 the water. They became very tame, and came into the streets 

 of the country towns, and suddenly left in April, but from what 

 direction they came or which way they went nobody seems to 

 know. At first they were welcomed as allies of the Ibis army 

 doing battle with the young locusts, but examination of their 

 crops showed that they were vegetarians strictly. 



A sight for bird lovers is a flight of Betcherrygahs or Warbling 

 Grass-Parrakeets {Melopsittaciis undtilatus) on the Peak Downs. 

 To attempt an estimate of the numbers in some of the flocks is 

 useless, and one would be accused of exaggerating, but I have 

 seen some masses of green and gold some chains long and over a 

 chain wide. The speed and concerted movement as they sweep 

 round and round and in and out of the timber in a perfect 

 ecstasy of flight are, I think, unequalled by those of any other 

 bird : one minute they will be almost lost to sight as they turn 

 edgeways, and the next present a broad waving ribbon. 



Flock Pigeons {Histriophaps hisirionica) came to the Peak Downs 

 this year for the first time to my knowledge, the drought which 

 still rages at Winton being, I expect, the cause. — F. B. C. Ford. 



