^°lg^i^'] Stray Feathers. 145 



Stray Feathers 



Effects of a Mild Winter. — The winler liavinj,'- been so iniUl 

 in Victoria, birds have been nesting unusually early. I saw a 

 fully fledged White-plumed Honey-eater (Ptilofis peneillata) in 

 July, as one case in point. Then agam at Kooweerup, where 

 the country is rough and mostly lightly timbered, e.xce[)t for 

 patches of swami) ti-tree, 1 found very early this season three 

 nests of the Yellow-breasted Shrike-Robin (Eopsalfria aiis- 

 tralis) ; one had three eggs in, but one of these was taken, and 

 the birds ])romptJy disturbed the nest. I have noticed the same 

 thing occur before. Magpie-Larks {Grallina eyanoleuca) nested 

 freely in the pines. They seem to prefer the.se trees to the 

 eucalyptus ; possibly their mud nest has a better hold.- Many 

 Magpies {Gymnorhina lenconota) were nesting, but usually in 

 eucalyi)ts or blackwood trees, and 1 noticed one nest oi the 

 P)Utcher-Bird (Craetieiis torqiiatiis) with three eggs in, and 

 also not far off a pair of Kestrels (Cerchneis cenchroides) built 

 their nest in a eucalyptus tree, but the other birds did not seem 

 to be very scared of them. Their food is, I think, largely msec- 

 tivorous. Possibly other members have also noticed early nest- 

 ing this season, and probably many birds will rear two oi^ three 

 clutches this year. We saw a Wedge- tailed Eagle (Uroaetiis 

 audax) catch and kill a rabbit. It caught it by the head with 

 its talons and carried it off". — J. Cecil Le Souet- R.A.O.U., 

 Parkville. 



The Red-Eyed Bul-Bul. — Mr. Wolstenholme's note on this 

 bird {Otoeoiiipsa joeosa — Linn.) in the July issue of The Emu, 

 following that by Mr. W. H. D. Le Souef in the issue of April, 

 1918, have j)rompted me to make some observations on the oc- 

 currence of this bird about Sydney. Its natural habitat is 

 Northern India, Burma, South China, Andaman Islands, and 

 the Malay Peninsula. In size it is somewhat smaller than our 

 Crested Bell-Bird, for which I mistook it on the first fleeting 

 glimpses, before the conspicuous red markings were noticed. 

 The beak, forehead, crown, crest, nape and sides of chest are 

 black, and a black line occurs below the cheek. The chin, throat, 

 cheek and centre of the chest are white, as are the tips of the 

 tail feathers beneath. A w^hite feather also appears at the 

 position of the bastard wing. The under tail coverts are bright 

 red, and a patch of similar colour appears below the eye. The 

 rest of the plumage is, roughly, brown above and grey beneath. 

 The crest is a consi)icuous feature, standing well up from the 

 forehead and crown, the centre feathers being erect, while the 

 anterior contour is concave. Often the crest appears bifid. I 

 first noticed this bird in my garden at Double Bay, Sydney, in 

 October, 1917, and observed it there constantly until my de- 



