^"I" ^^^j stray Feathers. I47 



Cormorant rookery is in anibatch (a sort ot bean, like a i)rickly 

 acacia), growing in the shallow water off the largest islet. These 

 bushes are about 6 or 7 feet out of the water only, rather as Man- 

 groves grow. You have to put on waders, or you would be 

 scratched to bits, and even then the climbing about on the prickly 

 branches is rather a task. I should say there were about a 

 hundred nests of the Cow Egret {Bubulcus), half a dozen of the 

 Egret (Garziita), thirty each of the big Cormorant and the 

 Darter, and a few of the Little Cormorant. Of course, the Cor- 

 morants are different from yours, though the Darter seems very 

 close to the Australian bird. 



"The colours of the birds just here arc nothing marvellous, 

 except for the Sun-Birds, but very many have good singing 

 l)owers, and the nests ol most, especially Flycatchers, are 

 l)eautiful. ... I think I told you there were eight 

 Swallows here ; well, counting Martins, there are nearer twelve. 

 Last Saturday alone, on a canoe trip with H.E., upon an arm 

 of the lake, I saw seven species of different kinds of birds new to 

 me. You can imagine what a glorious place for bird-lovers it 

 is, once you get to know a httle about the species. Of course, if 

 Sir Frederick Jackson were not here I should have taken years 

 to tind out what, as it is, I have learned in seven months." 



Restless Flycatcher's Notes. — Apropos of the notes from 

 Western Australia regarding the Restless Flycatcher {Seisitya 

 iuqiiu't(i)* it is a most curious thing that so many prominent 

 ornithologists were of (Gilbert's opinion that the " scissors- 

 grinding " sounds are " only emitted while the bird is in a hovering 

 position a few feet from the ground." Mr. Robert Hall and Dr. 

 J. A. Leach both passed this behef on, and Captain S. A. White 

 remarked t that, on Eyre Peninsula, he learned that Seisura 

 " only makes the strange grinding noise when hovering over the 

 ground." Consequent on this latter observation. Captain White 

 published in The Emti a Httle later % a note I sent him, reporting 

 the Flycatcher as " whirring" both while perched on the ground 

 and on stumps. And now comes con-oboration from the West ! 

 In the three years intervening I have, however, come to regard 

 it as a commonplace to hear the Restless Flycatcher " wheezing " 

 ecstatically while sitting still. The last instance of the kind 

 came under my notice a few days ago (ist August) ; but this was 

 rather remarkable from the fact that the Flycatcher in question 

 had an Australian Brown Flycatcher {Micrceca fascinans) dancing 

 attendance upon it. Occasionally the two birds would perch about 

 one foot apart on a fence rail, while Seisura inquieta whirred and the 

 Brown Flycatcher kept a wary eye on the ground. And every- 

 where the Restless Flycatcher went the little brown bird followed. 



* Emu, vol. XV., part i, pp. 53, 54. 

 t Emu, vol. xii., part i, p. 4. 

 X Emu, vol. xii., part 2, p. 134. 



