72 Stray Feathers. ["^sffuTy" 



through the day, but always made home at night. Some of the 

 members at times did not reach the roost tree till a good while 

 after nightfall. The benighted ones called frequently on their 

 homeward flight, and were answered by those that were already 

 home. Other birds have special roost trees as well as Crows. 



Every squattage homestead in the back country has its own 

 flock of Crows. Individual members sometimes become so well 

 known to stockmen that they are known as Joe and Jerry, and 

 so on. I have often seen a small company, or a couple, chasing 

 another Crow through the air, evidently an intruder. Rut when 

 a dead beast was discovered, Crows were called to the feast 

 from every point of the compass. When the banquet was over, 

 generally about sunset, each group departed the way it came. 

 Some of these groups, after a late meal, travelled twenty miles 

 or more to their home camp. In the open western regions, 

 where their flight can be followed for miles, and many camping 

 places are known, their movements are easily noted. — E. S. 

 SoRENSGN, R..\.O.U., 104 Sydenham :\oad, Marr ckville, N.S.W, 



• Owl Calls.— ^\ bile reading lately an anonymous article in an 

 English journal on "Spring's First Footfall," I was interested 

 in this part : "The sibilant note of the Rarn-Owl, the sad cry of 

 the Wood-Owl, the cat-call of the Little Owl," because our small 

 Spotted Owl of Tasmania has at times, when excited, a note 

 just like the mewing of a cat. Are the.se "cat-calls" character- 

 istic of the small Owls all the world over? The Spotted Owl 

 (N'inox novcc-cealandicc) is fairly ])lentiful in my locality, which 

 is well-timbered, and I often hear him at night through the open 

 window; he fre(|uentlv announces his approach bv a series of 

 calls, "Ohhh! Ohhh ! 'Ohhh ! Ohhh !" like a per.so'n much sur- 

 prised or shocked. ( )ne summer night a ])air came into a gum 

 just back of the cottage, and ap]iarently sat close together on 

 one of the branches. He called, "More-pork" rapidly about sixty 

 times in succession, but in a somewhat subdued tone, while she 

 kept up a sort of droning accompaniment. This little insight 

 into Owl courtship was rather entertaining, although too brief. 

 Not long ago I saw it stated in an Australian ])a])er that no bird 

 calls "Morei)ork !" but that the call should be represented as 

 "Morej)oke !" or "Boobook !" This is a mistake as far as our 

 island is concerned, for the Spotted (^wl says "More])ork!" as 

 plainly as a human being could pronounce the words. — H. 

 Stu.akt Dovi:. F.Z.S.. R.A.O.U.. Ta->mania. 



The Birds and the Crops. A Story of the Egret in Egypt.— 

 Did you ever hear llie story of how Alajor S. S. Flower, direc- 

 tor of the Egyptian Zoological Seivice, sa\c<I the beautiful 



