10 Batrv, Bird-Life Sixty Years Ago. [,^, 



Emu 

 "In 



Whitf.-eyk {Zosterops c(vrnlcscens). — This tame little bird was always a 

 regular visitor, coming in a party that kept together. Occasionally it nested 

 on the Jackson's Creek. 



Mistlktoe-Btrd {Diciciiin /u'ritfidi/inccnni). — Three or four years back 

 for the first time I saw this handsome bird on the old holding. The 

 various eucalypts scattered around l)ore mistletoes not a ie\\\ some remark- 

 ably fine ones. As youths we were always on the quest, yet, curious to relate, 

 we never saw a Mistletoe-Bird. 



Red-tipped Pardalote {Pardalotus omntus). — Once common ; still 

 appears occasionally. It used to nest with us. 



Spotted P.\RDAL0TE {Pardaloius punctatiis). — Once frecjuent and 

 nesting, but it disappeared in later years, though odd ones may still 

 appear. 



Welcome Swallow {Hirundo neoxena).—^\\.\\ respect to visits, nesting, 

 and numbers the same as it was 60 years ago. 



Tree-Swallow {Pctrocliclidon /jii^ricatis). — -Came to breed annually. 

 Sparrows, with Starlings, have appropriated the few hollow spouts on my 

 area, with the result that we never see this bird. 



Fairy Martin {Petrochclidon arid). — Came to breed occasionally. In 

 later years its visits seem more frequent. Latterly several nests under 

 Bulla bridge, others under arch of stone culvert. Nested under eaves of huts 

 in Riverina, but ants killed the young soon as hatched. 



Swift {Chcptura caudacutd). — '^e.\er a year passed without seeing them. 

 Have seen them as early in the year as 23rd January. Some of my people 

 asserted that they once saw these birds perched on stones. 



Pipit {Antlius ausfralis). — Always in evidence, and has increased, owing 

 to forest lands being cleared. 



Bush-Lark {Mirafra hotsficidi). — This Lark could not have been on the 

 15,000 acres of old, because if it had it could not have escaped our notice. 

 First saw it at Newham about 1890, when its curious pepper and salt 

 marked eggs were discovered. At times it comes to Redstone Hill, where 

 it is recognisable by its peculiar jerky flight and its singing. 



Brown Son(;-Lark {Cinclorhamplms criiralis). — A frequent visitor in 

 good seasons ; comes to breed. We dubbed it the " Cock-tailed Lark." On 

 occasions this bird is fairly numerous. 



Spot'IED-sided Finch {Sia^atioplcum guttata). — This handsome l'"inch 

 always to be found in small parties, yet with us never numerous. Bred on 

 the place, and in one instance knew them to construct a winter roosting nest, 

 into which the little fellows crowded at night. Disappeared for a long time, 

 then lately some returned for a brief s])ace. Noted at Woodlands, near 

 Bulla, also at (iisborne. 



Red-hrowed Finch {yEgintha tc)iiporntis).—hx Redstone Hill in 1846, 

 and for many years, this bird in numbers far exceeded the former species. 

 After nesting time it mustered in a large flock of perhaps 100 birds. Still 

 present, but in diminished numbers ; has ceased to be permanent, and has 

 become a visitor only on Jackson's Creek. Have often seen its nests in 

 former days seized by introduced Sparrows. 



Chestnut-earkd Finch ( 'Pceniopygia castauoiis) — This Finch was never 

 indigenous in my part of Victoria, and only visited the area under consider- 

 ation once during the fifties, and in that instance in large numbers. It 

 would be in the spring season, beciuse it bred and we took young ones. I 

 met it again in Riverina in the summer of 1865, when surface pools were ail 

 dried up. They came in numbers to drink water placed out for them in an 

 old frying-pan, and it was amusing to watrli the little fellows slaking their 

 thirst. 



