^°i92^i^'] liARRE.TT, Birds Around a Homestead. 259 



defined, in the breeding season. When studying the Warblers, 

 this ornithologist "became aware of the fact that each male iso- 

 lates itself at the commencement of the breeding season, and 

 exercises dominion over a restricted area of ground." Here is 

 an untilled field for Australian observers. The breeding terri- 

 tory, as Eliot Howard observes, is "useful in various ways, but 

 not necessarily in the same way for every species." Food sup- 

 ply must be one factor. When rival males fight, it is possible 

 that, in some cases, the trial by battle is not for the sake of a 

 mate, but for the right of dominion over some area suitable for 

 the species to nest in, and yielding a rich supply of food. Often 

 enough, the males fight after they have mated, or a male with 

 a nest building may attack an unmated bird which ventures into 

 his territory. The evidence in support of the theory of territory 

 in bird life is lucidly discussed in Eliot Howard's work, which I 

 would advise every Australian bird observer to read. 



Digressions are pardonable in writing of birds about a home- 

 stead, where your eyes may be won from a fragrant rose to fol- 

 low the flight of a Swallow. Notes cannot be neatly packed 

 into paragraphs, headed by the name of the species, if one wishes 

 to convey an impression of the birds and their environment. 

 We need more freedom in writing, I think; all facts are scien- 

 tific, though they may not be marshalled in the conventional way. 



A mile from the homestead, one Sunday morning, I rambled 

 along a road, which ran through a stretch of open forest country. 

 Sheep were resting in pools of shade, formed by wide-branching 

 eucalypts, and the air was thrilling with insect noise. "All the 

 live nuirmur of a summer day." Bird song mingled with hum- 

 ming and buzzing. It was pleasant, after a walk in sunshine, to 

 lie on the grass, and name all the birds from their voices. The 

 Alurrumbidgee was not far away. I had set out to see it, but 

 birds lured me from the road, and I gave my leisure morning 

 to observing their ways and listening to their music : a profitable 

 use for hours of idleness. 



Black-backed Magpies (Gymnorliwa tibicen) were feeding 

 young birds on the ground. I followed one later close to the 

 homestead, and found that it could fly almost as well as its 

 parents. Some of the Magpies had broods on the wing; others 

 were still busy with cares at the nest. Black- faced Cuckoo- 

 Shrikes (Graucalus nova-hollandicc) also were nesting in trees 

 along the roadside. But the most abundant birds here were 

 Brown Tree-Creepers (Cliinacteris piciiinna), and the. White- 

 shouldered Caterpillar-Eater {Campephaga tricolor). The high, 

 piping call of the one, and. the loud, running notes of the other, 

 were heard continuously. The songs of White-throated Fly- 

 eaters {Gerygone albogularis) were heard, too, reminding me of 

 rambles about our camp at Ejlerslie, on Wallis Lake, where these 

 small singing birds were so plentiful. 



.•\mong the gums \\'hite- winged Choughs (Corcorax melanor- 

 Jiamphus) were foraging in companies. They were bold and in- 



