^°'ioi^^' 1 From Magazines, <^c. 57 



birds, and when found the cliicks for the fn-st few days would 

 scatter in all directions, more often than not making frantic efforts 

 to get through the £-inch mesh wire-netting enclosing the run, 

 and on various occasions I rescued chicks that had pushed through 

 and failed to return. The parent birds would at my apj^-oach 

 display the greatest agitation — the cock very slightly setting up 

 his feathers and rushing off with loud ' clacks ' of indignation, 

 whilst the hen, with similar ' clacks,' and with lowered head and 

 wings, and feathers on the back erected, would repeatedly charge 

 at me, especially if a chick was heard to cry. It would be 

 of great interest to have had a photograph of the hen Rail 

 while charging : she looked something like a Ruff in the breeding 

 season, and the greatest possible contrast to the tor})edo-shaped 

 bird as I usually see her at other seasons, shrinking away through 

 the grass at the slightest noise. The cock bird usually kept quite 

 near the hen, but I never actually saw him brooding the chicks. 

 For a fortnight I spent a good deal of time throwing crumbled 

 hard-boiled egg, scalded gentles, finely-chopped meat, poultry 

 food, and other dainties in open spaces where I hoped the Rails 

 and not other birds would find them. It was most interesting, 

 when I could watch unseen, to notice the hen bird coming out 

 to fetch pieces of this food or catching flies with which to feed the 

 young. I could always tell when the young were near, and I 

 was unnoticed, by her constant low ' grunts ' calling them — a 

 striking contrast to the angry ' clacks ' of one or both parents as 

 soon as danger was suspected. One of the chicks died at the 

 end of about a week, and one when partly feathered. The other 

 two flourished greatly, but just before getting feathered were 

 the ughest birds I ever saw in my life. The down with which 

 they were hatched did not seem to have increased at all, and as 

 the birds grew prodigiously they became straggling, black- 

 skinned, semi-nude objects. I often failed to find one or other 

 of them for a week or so at a time, and it was interesting to notice 

 that the young birds and their parents made long tunnels in the 

 coarse-growing grass all over the run, as though the place had 

 been infested with rats. A systematic hunt by several persons 

 with sticks to poke in every tuft of grass was the only way of 

 ascertaining what birds were there. The greatest care had to be 

 exercised to avoid treading on the chicks." 



Reviews. 



[ " Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania." ] 



" Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Austraha and 

 Tasmania," by A. J. North, printed by order of the Trustees of 

 the Australian Museum, commenced in 1904, has at last been 

 completed. I purpose criticising the work from the point Of view 

 of amateurs, ^lany of whom, like myself, take a keen interest in 



