314 Stray Feathers. K'S 



Kiwis, Crows and the Huia, of course, still exist; but the last- 

 mentioned is on the borderland of extinction. — R. H. D. 

 v^TiDouiMi, IMasterton, N.Z. 



* * * 



Cuckoo carrying- egg. — In looking through The Emu of April, 

 1919, I iKjticc a record oi an observation by the late Arthur P. 

 Ingle of a Cuckoo removing a W ren's egg and depositing one 

 of its own, which reminds me of something similar observed by 

 me during this season. While watching some Flycatchers, I 

 noticed a Bronze Cuckoo (Laniprococcyx) fly from a tree with 

 something in its bill and perch upon a limb about 50 yards dis- 

 tant, and upon approaching the bird it flew away, dropping an 

 egg, which, upon examination, proved to be that of a Flame- 

 breasted Robin (Petroica phoenicea), and upon examinmg the 

 tree I fovmd a new nest of this Robin, so it would a[)pear the 

 Cuckoo was clearing the way for its own egg. — W. N. Atkins. 



* * * 



Chang-e in Plumage in the Koel Cuckoo ( Endynamys oricn- 

 talis). — When collecting some skins of the Koel Cuckoo for Dr. 

 D'Ombrain this year, 1 found some interesting plumage phases. 

 The first bird I shot I thought by the i)lumage was a female, 

 but I found on dissecting the bird that it was an immature male. 



The bird was fully fledged with no sign of (|uills, and was a 

 last season's bird. It seems probable that the male Koel assumes 

 the blue black ])lumage when about three years old or at the 

 earliest at second moult. 



On examining the specimen taken, the plumage was seen to 

 dilifer very much from the adult female, the feathers being not 

 pencilled so clearly as in the female, and having more black 

 down the back of the head and back. The breast and wings, 

 however, were the same as in the adult female. — Bv I. F. H. 

 GoGERLEv, R.A.O.U., Ellerslie, Wallis Lake, N.S.W. ' 



* * ::; 



The Northern Bell-Magpie. — In the note ui)on Strepera f/racu- 

 liiia rohjii.^oni (Mathews), in TJic Etnu, vol. ante., [)p. 164, 165, 

 I remarked that, at the time, I had not examined a skin. It will 

 interest those to whom I have sent eggs, and others, to know 

 that a series of skins has since come to hand, and i)roves Mr. 

 Mathews' sub-species to be good, though I am unable to agree 

 with his points of difference from the type. My specimens show 

 the northern bird as having much more white on the wings and 

 tail, with a wing measurement of 270 mm., as against 240 in 

 Mr. Mathews' ty])e, and 2fi0 for an average bird from New 

 Sf)uth Wales. The bill of Strepera //. robinsoni is longer, very 

 much stouter, and more arched ; length, hZ mm. by 26 mm. in 

 deej)est part, as against a "Belltrees" (X.v^.W.) bird: 59 mm. in 

 length, deepest part 2Z mm. — Henkv L. W ihtk. "Belltrees," 

 Scone, N.S.W\ 5/9/22. 



