260 BARRETT, Birds Around a Homestead. [L^'S 



quisitive, and noisy, too. But not more familiar than the tiocks 

 of Wliite-browed P»abblers (Pomatostonms superciliosus), which 

 hopped from branch to branch of a tree ahnost within hand's 

 reach. They regarded me at first with some signs of curiosity, 

 but soon continued their game of "follow the leader." 



Fantails, the Shepherd's Companion, I saw feeding among the 

 flocks ; one, now and then, would perch for a minute on a sheep's 

 back. White-shafted Fantails (Rhipidura flabellifera) were not 

 rare; and J heard the call of a Restless Flycatcher (Sehura in- 

 quieta) not once, but many times; with the "Peter, Peter, Peter" 

 of the Brown Flycatcher {Microeca fascinans) sounding farther 

 away. All familiar birds, you see, but good company for an ob- 

 server at any time of the year. Maybe we have yet much to 

 learn respecting our commonest species. 



Returning from my ramble, I dipped down to the creek, seek- 

 ing a bend where Fairy Martins (Hylochelidoit ariel) had a 

 colony of nests last season. But winter floods had swept away 

 great flakes of the high bank, and the birds had gone elsewhere 

 to nest. Within cooee of the creek a pair of Spurwing Plovers 

 {Lobibyx rioz'cc-hoUandi(T) reared a brood. These birds are not 

 rare in the Territory; often, at night, I heard them calling, as 

 they flew^ over the homestead. Another voice of the night was 

 that of the Boobook Owl {Nhwx boobook), which sheltered 

 by day in the pine trees. 



Around Tuggranong I had no glimpse of the White Cockatoo 

 (Cacatua (/alerifa) ; but the species abounds in the lerritory. 

 I heard that hundreds had been poisoned in one paddock. "They 

 are terrible pests," was the reason advanced for this destruction 

 of beautiful birds. i\nd a sheep farmer, when I spoke to him of 

 the value of the Wedge-tailed Eagle (Uroaetus andax) smiled 

 grimly. He laughed at words in praise of the Crow (Corvus 

 coronoides), holding it to be one of the worst birds in sheep 

 country. The man on the land does not always recognise his 

 friends. It seemed to be news to this farmer that crow s devour 

 the larvae of blowflies, "grubs" that fatten in the "golden fleece." 



Just beyond the shed, where shearers were working on a small 

 flock, I discovered the nest of a pair of Black-backed Magpies, 

 fifty odd feet up, near the end of a horizontal bough. While I 

 was looking at it, a Friar Bird (Tropidorliynchus eorniculatus) 

 claimed attention. It led me from tree to tree, until I wearied 

 of the chase. I thought that this might be the bird which had 

 entertained me earlier, at the homestead. There it had found a 

 supply of nesting material — a loose end of clothes-line hanging 

 from a post. From the garden, 1 watched the bird fly up to the 

 post, then on to the rope, at which it tugged stoutly with its 

 bill, striving to gain strands for its nest. T suppose. Malt a do/.en 

 times it essayed the task, retiring in the intervals to rest in a 

 tree near by. At length it acknowledged defeat, and flew, 

 straight as an arrf)w goes, to a belt of guius, nearly half a mile 

 away. 



