236 T>ovE, Retiifn of Migrants and Visitors. [,sfT"rii 



completely recovering was photographed sitting on a boy's hand 

 (a beautiful reproduction is given in the magazine) and banded 

 with No. 49,510. After release he took to himself a mate ; they 

 built and raised their family not far away, and then left for 

 warmer climes. On ist May, 1920, the Grosbeaks returned from 

 their winter quarters, and one was found in the same porch the 

 following day. When caught, it was found to be banded, and 

 the number revealed was 49,510 — " We held again in our hands 

 the same bird which had been held and photographed a year 

 before." The editor of the section. Dr. A. A. Allen, remarks on 

 this being a good example of the results obtained by banding 

 birds. The bands have proved not only that the birds come 

 back to the same place to nest each year, but hkewise that some, 

 at least, spend each winter in the same place. 



A striking little piece of evidence, tending to confirm my idea 

 that our Summer-Bird {Graucalus parvirostris) is a migrant, 

 comes from Somerset, about 33 miles west of Devonport. Mr. 

 C. Ross Mackenzie writes : — " Knowing that you are interested 

 in the movements of birds, I am sending an observation made on 

 15th of this month (September). My farm is on a hill overlooking 

 the sea, and on that day I witnessed the arrival of about 100 

 ' Martins ' and about 30 Summer-Birds. The first came at 3 p.m., 

 the latter about half an hour afterwards. The ' Martins ' came 

 in a body, and appeared quite fresh ; the Summer-Birds — 18 first, 

 then the others straggling in twos and threes — seemed somewhat 

 fatigued, and kept ' heading-up ' to the wind, which was easterly 

 and fresh. The ' Martins ' stayed about near the coast, but 

 the others moved away inland, only one being visible next day." 



" Martin " is, of course, the local name for Wood-Swallows 

 {Artamus sordidus). That part of the coast, as it trends away 

 to north-west, receives the migrants from the mainland, or King 

 Island, or the Hunters, before we get them. I did not see any 

 Summer-Birds in this district until 21st inst., and then only two 

 pairs. My correspondent mentions the ground-wind being 

 easterly, but up aloft it was probably north-west, and the 

 migrants would only drop into the opposing current as they 

 neared the coast. 



For the past four months an extraordinary number of Brush 

 Wattle-Birds {Anellohia mellivora) has made a home in the 

 township of Devonport and vicinity. In these few months I 

 have seen far more of the species than in all the previous years 

 which I have lived in Tasmania, and its appearance in such 

 profusion seems to point to the long, warm summer of 1919-20 

 as having been an exceptionally favourable one for nesting and 

 subsequent development. The blue gums which border some of 

 the gardens along the road in which I live are alive with the birds ; 

 the same may be said of the flowering lucerne trees, whose white, 

 leguminous blossoms are in great favour for the nectar with 

 which they abound. The calls of the " Mock- Wattles " (as the 

 boys call the Anellohia) have been a source of great amusement 



