212 Stray Feathers. [,sf"jan 



Mornington (additional 8 miles each way). Mr. Brown informed 

 me that the Swallows took about five weeks building their nest, 

 which was probably chiefly constructed at the Mornington Junction 

 terminus. He did not notice the birds always following the train, 

 but they appeared to join at various places en route. — G. E. 

 Shepherd. Somerville, g/12/ii. 



* * * 



Re-discovery of Pachycephala rufogularis (Gould). — One hot day 

 in November last Mrs. White and I were working the dense mallee 

 scrub 40 miles east of the River Murray. Attracted by a call 

 which we had never heard before, we came upon two male Thick- 

 heads fighting and calling loudly. The call, once heard, will 

 never be forgotten — it is so unlike that of any other bird. The 

 first note is a loud, clear whistle ; the next note follows quickly, 

 and resembles the noise produced by the drawing-in of the breath 

 between partially-closed lips. Later in the day we secured a 

 female. It is the opinion of some ornithologists, I believe, that 

 the bird in question is the immature P. gilberti. I am positive 

 this is not the case, for both the males I secured were mature 

 birds in every respect. I cannot think for a moment that the 

 lores, which are a reddish-brown, would change to black, as they 

 are in P. gilberti ; lastly, Gould had ample material to compare 

 these birds, and he would not make a mistake of this kind. 

 Evidently John Gould met with this bird in fair numbers in the 

 bush near Adelaide over 70 years ago, but, strange to say, it has 

 not been met with since. — S. A. White. Wetunga, S.A., 2/12/11. 



* * * 



Notes from Belltrees (N.S.W.)— I saw for the first time, on loth 

 October, a pair of Little W'himbrel (Mesoscolopax minutiis) in our 

 neighbourhood. They were not at all timid. 



The majority of our migratory visitors returned to us much 

 earlier this year than in igio and 1909 — in fact, this applies to 

 practically all save the Wood-Swallows (Artami), who were only 

 8 days earlier than in the previous two years. Another notice- 

 able feature is the comparative scarcity of the flocks in com- 

 parison with those of the two preceding years. This was very 

 marked in the case of all the flocks of Wood-Swallows. It would 

 be interesting to know if the same applies to other localities. 

 Rufous Song-Larks {Cinclorhamphus rufescens) were very few this 

 year. Coincident with the above notes it may be added that all 

 our local birds nested from three weeks to a month earlier than in 

 former years. This was very noticeable in the case of the Parrots 

 and the Thickheads {Pachycephala rttfiveniris), the former laying 

 a month earlier and the latter 23 days These cases refer to 

 birds that breed beside my house in the same spot each year. 



White-fronted Heron (Notophoyx novcB-hollandice). — For some 

 time I have been observing a pair of these birds for further notes 

 on their habits, and I noticed the following little incident — an 

 unrecorded trait. I think . — The two birds were in a shallow pool 



