2r)2 N est} no; of Hawfinch and Whydah. 



the hen, he puffs up the feathers at the bark of tlic neck and 

 spreadr> his wings and rather short tail, liis bil) nearly touching 

 that of the hen, a nd retnains rigid for several seconds. I 

 have frec|uently tried to gte.t a photo of him in this position, 

 but without success. In this attitude the scarlet patch on the 

 shoulder, looks very pretty, and he reminds one ver/ strongly 

 of the Red-shouldered Blackbirds and Troupials. The song 

 is a harsh wheeze, and quite unworthy of the name of nmsic, 

 but he certainly puts his heart into it. 



Stray Notes. 



By Lt. B. Hamilton Scott R.E.A: 



I have just recently seen a very bratttiful Australian 

 Broadtail belonging to a lady in this distrx:. This bird has 

 been in her possession over 22 years, and was brought by 

 a friend from South Australia. He is a fine bird and shows 

 not the slightest sign of age, either in beak, claw or plumage. 

 I guessed from her previous descriptions that he was a 

 Bauer's and I verified it on my visit by comparing him with 

 the illustration in "Bird Notes," p. 123, Vol., 1910. Like 

 most other Bauer's and Barnard's, he is very vicious to certain 

 people. Apart from his beautiful colourings and great agC; 

 he is quite a performer; he will dance and whistle " Weel 

 may the keel row," when asked to by his mistress, and also 

 say a few words. 



I thought this might be of interest as showing the 

 age a Broadtail will live in a cage. The whole time this 

 lady has had him he has only been out of his cage once ! 



Cardinals: Here is another little episode I should 

 like to mention: I have had for the last three years in a 

 natural garden aviary a pair (so called) of Red Crested 

 Cardinals, I now have no doubt they are both cocks. During 

 July they did a great deal of " sparring " and 1 was wonder- 

 ing if any member had noticed how this species (and perhaps 

 other Cardinals as well) actually do fight. I had one splendid 



