144 Notes from Far and Near. 



Inrds, the one being prettily musical, and the other having a singular 

 scraping sound. Another speeieis is the Brown Flycatcher, though 

 it is not usually idcntilu'd a.s one. of this faniily, because it is 

 jncarly all brown and is formed like many of the plumper and 

 Ibng-winged bii'ds, instead of having the slender and graceful out- 

 line of the better known Flycatcher, which is found only in the 

 castei'n part of the continent. Though dilTering in colour, form, 

 and other characteristics, the habits of most of the species are 

 much the same. 



DO BIRDS REMOVE THEIR EGGS ? 



H.V.E.: Late one afternoon I f(.iund a Sjiur-wingcd J'lover's 

 nest Vv'ith foui' eggs, but on visiting it tlie billnwiiig nioraiug it 

 was empty, although tlie birds still hung about tiie place, siiu\v;ng 

 much anxiety, and otherwise behaving as if their oggs w^v^i st:il 

 in the vicinity. The same tiling liappened with regard t) a [)air 

 of land Cui'lew's (Stone I'lover's) eggs, and with regard also to a 

 nest of the Black-breasted I'lovei-. ui fact, I have seen the latter 

 bii'd carry away an ^"^'^ in its beak alt>er the nest was discoverLid, 

 being scai'ed and lluriied, it dropped the cg-g before it hal got very 

 far avvay. Mo doulit, if not under observation, it would liavei 

 . succecdwi in removing them — one by one — to a place of safety. 

 Tin; nest of a Fiover is a niei'e shallow depression scooj^ed out of 

 the soil, lined with a little dry gi"ass, and it would oidy take; a 

 i'ew minutes to prepare a fresh one for the reception of its cgg'-s 

 without any pretence of a nest at all. Both it and the other Plovers 

 irely to a great extent on the boat of the sun to hatch tiieir eg"g,s. 

 In a third instance which, I think, is conclusive that birds som'e- 

 tiancs eithiei' i-cmove or possibly cat, their eggs after tlie nest has 

 been interfered with,, two 'eggs were taken from a Sacred King- 

 lishj/r's nest in a small hollow ali')ut (5 feiet from the g'round. 

 Till' apcrtui'e was so narrow that the eggs taken from the <dntc1i 

 of four could with difficulty be removed with a dessert spoon. The 

 nest was visited early next day when it was found that the two 

 ■eggs left in the nest had disappeared also, and the birds were 

 inowhere to be seen. The hollow had not been enlarged, and as 

 there were no Monitor Lizards in the locality, and the hole would 

 scarcely admit the head of a Jackass, it is probable that they 

 r/ere removed or destroyed by the Kingfishers themselves. Both 

 the Monitor Lizard and the Jackass ©at bird's eggs — the latter 

 of course preferring those of some other bird to those of its own 

 species. In all these instances conclusions may be drawn without 

 taking into account the destructive factor known as " small boy," 

 happily absent from the localities in which these nests were found, 

 and who so frequently wars against one of man's best friends in 

 the shape of the inssctivorous bird. — Sydney Mail, April 6, 1910. 



