^8 Camera Craft Notes: [.sOu'v 



Emu-Wrens in Tasmania. — In November, 1914, 1 spent a lew 

 days in the Springfield district, Tasmania, where Miss J. A. 

 Fletcher showed me several nests of Emu-Wrens (Stipitums 

 ■malachurtis). At one of these nests, containing three nestlings 

 about a week old, I spent several hours on a hot afternoon, but did 

 not succeed in obtaining a photograph of the parent birds. The 

 camera was concealed in a clump of sword-grass a few feet from 

 the nest, with only the lens showing, while I remained hidden 

 some four yards away, at the end of the rubber tubing attached 

 to the shutter release. Time and again one or other of the Emu- 

 Wrens approached the nest, always from the back of the tussock 

 in which it was built, and crept "^ around, hke mice. They came 

 silently, but, when startled by the least sound, flew away with a 

 faint whirr of wing. The birds were anxious about their brood, 

 but would not venture in front of the nest while the camera lens 

 stared at it. On several occasions one or other of the birds 

 carried food. The male dodged around for half an hour, carrying 

 in its beak some small insects ; eventually it disappeared, and 

 doubtless ate the food itself. On the following day I tried my 

 luck at another nest, which held eggs, but the result was not 

 better. The birds were seen moving among the grass-stems 

 within a foot of the nest, but declined to appear for even a 

 moment at the " front door." I departed from Springfield without 

 having exposed a single plate on an adult Emu-Wren.— Charles 

 Barrett. Melbourne, 10/6/15. 



Rare Photographs. — The photographs by Mr. James Ramsay, 

 Pitt-street, Sydney, New South Wales, reproduced in this issue, 

 are of special interest. They comprise old male Satin Bower- 

 Bird {Ptilonorhynchns holosericeus) at a bower in a deserted 

 garden at Schofield's Creek, Barnard River, Scone district ; 

 Tawny Frogmouth {Podargus strigoides) and young (taken by 

 flashlight), at Ashfield ; and Yellow-bellied Shrike-Tit (Falcunculus 

 frontatus) approaching nest. The prints were sent to the editors 

 of The Emu by Mr. H. L. White, of Belltrees, Scone, in a letter to 

 whom Mr. Ramsay states : — 



" As regards difficulty, either the Podargus or the Shrike-Tit 

 gave me more trouble, but the Satin-Bird easily echpsed these 

 as a test for patience ; he was indeed a wily old bird. The 

 first day I lay under some straggling grape-vines from 10 o'clock 

 till 3.30, when a heavy shower put an end to any hope of securing 

 an exposure. The second day I was ready earlier, and had every- 

 thing in readiness by 9 o'clock, and never left my hiding-place till 

 3.45, when I exposed one plate just as the rain came down. The 

 shutter, however, which had been set in the bright sunlight, 

 proved 'too fast for the greatly reduced light, and I was not able 

 to develop a good picture. During almost all the second day the 

 old Satin-Bird was in sight, either in the casuarinas by the creek 

 or actually in the old mulberry tree above the bower, and I dare 



