20 Stray Feathers. [anl^Juiy 



hut, on the roof of which they often ah'ght and hop along. 

 Perhaps they are seen more now in the clearing because the 

 autumn rains have softened the dead wood and bark and 

 enabled them better to obtain the grubs concealed therein. 



" 8^/; JMay. — The weather is now quite warm and sunny again 

 after a cold and stormy interval. Several large dragon-flies 

 were seen on the wing, and the butterfly Heteronynipha merope 

 was observed sunning itself upon the stem of a small gum. 

 Some of the males of the Superb Warblers or Long-tailed 

 Wrens {Mahirus goiildi) look as beautiful as Humming-Birds 

 just now, with the vivid blue patches on the sides and back of 

 neck and top of head ; the long almost perpendicular tail is 

 dark blue in front, lighter blue behind, and is continually flirted. 

 The beak is nearly black, but in the hens is reddish-brown, the 

 same tint extending to the eye and encircling it ; they are other- 

 wise very soberly attired in greys, the legs being reddish. 



" 2'jtJi May. — The delightful ' spring-in-autumn ' still con- 

 tinues. The nights are cold, the days clear, warm, and sunny, 

 with a delicious crispness in the air. A ' Whistling Dick,' 

 apparently the father, from his very defiant attitude, was chap- 

 eroning a young one about the maze of fallen timber (proving 

 that some at least of the birds breed again in late summer or 

 autumn). The elder ' Dick ' would frequently stretch out his 

 head and neck very rigidly in an almost vertical direction, and 

 then, lowering it a little, would utter loudly three or four defiant 

 whistling notes, as if inviting combatants to enter the lists. The 

 young one, rather a heavy-looking ' cub,' hopped quite close to 

 me without manifesting the least alarm, at which the parent 

 grew greatly excited, and, flying to a distant log, invited the 

 fledgling, in very forcible language, to follow him. Numbers of 

 young Robins are also to be seen now, pulling up worms from 

 the moist ground. They probably belong to both the Scarlet 

 and Flame-breasted species." 



"3I.5-/ May. — One of the first sounds heard in the morning 

 now, as in spring, is the double note (dropping nearly an octave 

 from first to second) of the Dusky Robin {^Petrccca vittata), or 

 " Sad-Bird," just outside my window, while at night, as darkness 

 falls and the little bat flits to and fro in front of the hut, the 

 Crescent Honey-eater's {Lichincra australasiana) loud, cheerful 

 call resounds through the belt of young tea -tree which borders 

 the sandy track." 



'^ 2nd Aprils i897- — The wild birds are becoming very tame 

 on my little place, as they are never shot at or disturbed. 

 Besides a large flock of green Parrakeets {P latycerciis flaviventris), 

 which disport themselves among the fruit trees, or whiz by close 

 to one's head in their arrowy flight, the compact little Brown 

 Quails {SynaxHS dieviciiensis) are becoming familiar, and a covey 

 of them even ventures into the patch of grass immediately 



