60 FJ.ETCHEK. The /Hack ncU-Ma^jpic. RffuTy" 



Field Notes on the Black Bell-Magpie 

 Strepera fulginosa 



V.y .Miss J. A. FLETCHER, K.A.O.L'., W oodbridge, South 

 Tasmania. 



My sister and I were able to spend a couple of weeks in early 

 January of this year with our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and 

 family, who live at The Steppes. 



The altitude of this j)lace is a few feet short of 3000 feet. I; 

 is on the road Xo The Great Lake, being about 12 miles from 

 Miena, the settlement on the smithern end of tbal vast sheet of 

 water. 



A mile from the Steppes is the Lagoon of Islands, for a won- 

 der most aptly named. This lagoon is 8 miles round, and to- 

 wards its eastern shores there are numerous small tea-tree and 

 rush-covered islands. 



L'ntil the autumn of last year this was a great resort of many 

 water birds. Then, however, a fire swept through, and running 

 round the edges, burnt out the favoin-ite feeding area. Owing 

 to drought conditions then prevailing all the shallower flats were 

 quite dry. 



The birds did not return for the breeding season, evidently 

 finding the reedy ex])anses of the Lake of the Woods, a few 

 miles over the hills, a good huntmg ground. I was disappointed 

 to find this the case, and as an injured foot forbade the rough 

 scrambling neces.sary to reach the lake, I therefore resigned my- 

 self to watching the Pjlack Mags, and the birds of the imme- 

 diate forest. 



Though so elevated and subject U) heav\ falls of snow in the 

 winter time, this tract of country is one of the worst for snakes 

 I have e.xplored in Tasmania, and in other i)arts I have had many 

 and vivid experiences with these brutes. Here, they simply did 

 not make any attem])t to move out of the way. Pondering over 

 this I came to the conclusion that they were so used to the i»res- 

 ence of sheep that human footsteps did not alarm them. 



This characteristic of theirs was a decided drawback to ex- 

 ploring, for in a boulder and stick-strewn ground it was easy to 

 tread on one of these lazy wretches when one's eyes were roam- 

 ing the tops of trees for possible nests. 



The breeding season was over at the time of my visit. The 

 bush, however, was noisy with the cries of young birds of many 

 species. I found a great \ariety of nests for so elevated a dis- 

 trict. Had the waterways been accessible to me, I should have 

 added many more species. 



In this paper I shall confine myself to a few facts about the 

 Pilack P.ell-.Magpie [Strepera ful'li'iosa). Readers of The Enni^ 



