Vol. XXI 

 1922 



] Stray Feathers. 315 



Change in Colour of Bill and Iris of the Oriole.— Making a 

 study of the (3ri()le {Uriolus sa(/ittatiis ) thrcnigh seeing both black 

 ;.nd red-billed birds about, 1 thought the black-billed bird was a 

 variety as all the birds' I shot were full grown. 1 was all at sea 

 with regard to the birds, when a friend came to ])ut light on the 

 subject. He had reared a young Oriole from the nest and said 

 that when the bird was two years old, or at the third moult, both 

 the colour of the bill and iris changed from black to red, and 

 the plumage assumed a brighter tint and was more clearly pen- 

 cilled on the breast. Evidently the bird starts to breed when 

 changing, for I have seen no black-billed birds nesting at any- 

 time: only the birds with red bill and iris. — Rv J. F. H. Gogek- 

 LEY, Wallis Lake, N.S.W. 



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Drong-o Shrike and Hornets.— Last autumn on a cold, wet 

 day a pair of Drongo Shrikes paid a visit to the homestead. One 

 of the birds took up a station on a gra[)e vine trellis and fed 

 on the brown hornets that had built their paper-like nests all 

 along the fascia boards on the house 



The hornets were there in hundreds w hen the Drongo started. 

 Before the bird had finished with them, they were practically 

 exterminated. The bird stayed about the house for two days, 

 but when the hornets were gone, the bird left for the north, I 

 expect. 



The Drongo (Chibia bracteata) visits us every autumn or 

 late summer for about a fortnight, and then leaves again. — 

 J. F. H. GoGERLEv, R.A.O.U., Ellerslie, W^allis Lake, X.S.W. 



* * * 



Starlinsrs interrupt tele^rraph lines. — The Postal Department 

 has experienced considerable trouble during the past week or so 

 through interruptions to telegraph lines between Murrurundi 

 and Ouirindi, and in a lesser degree between Murrurundi and 

 Muswellbrook. 



The authorities were for a time completely baffled in their en- 

 deavours to ascertain the reason for the trouble, which was not 

 traceable to ordinary causes, and generally came on in the 

 evening and disappeared before morning. 



On Wednesday last the trouble arose at 5.55 p.m., and the 

 local line.smen were instructed to proceed towards Maitland as 

 quickly as possible. About six miles on the Maitland side of 

 Singleton two dense clouds of starlings, estimated to number 

 tens of thousands, were encountered, and it is considered prob- 

 able that they had been disturbed from the wires between 7 and 

 7.45 p.m., the fault having then cleared. Action is being taken 

 to have the particular sections in which the starlings congre- 

 gate patrolled at dusk for the next few nights, in order that the 

 birds may be scared and prevented from settling on the wires, 

 (thus causing a short circuit). — The Maitland Daily Mercury, 

 N.S.W., 7th February, 1922. 



