Vol. XIX. 



1919 



] Stray Feathers. 69 



mature male of P. phanicea. On 7th October, 1909, at Mumble, 

 near Kow Plains, north-west Victoria, Mr. J. A. Ross and I 

 found a nest of P. goodcnovii being l)uilt. The male was in attend- 

 ance, and was in immature plumage. Again, at Ferntree Gully, 

 Victoria, on 7th November, 1916, I found a nest of P. phocnicea 

 built in a cleft of a burnt and charred stump. The female was 

 fiushed from the nest, and was at once fed ])y her mate. The nest 

 contained three eggs sliglitly incubated, and the male was in 

 immature plumage. — Frank E. Howi'. Canterbury (Vic), 



Flame-breasted Robins. — Several times during Die last few 

 years 1 have l)een able to note the nesting hal)its of the Flame- 

 breasted Robin {Petroica phcenicea) in the highlands of New South 

 Wales. It is interesting to see how friendly this pretty little 

 bird is. At the Kosciusko Hotel, which stands at an elevation of 

 5,000 feet, in the Monaro district, a pair of Flame-breasts lay 

 every year in an ivy plant growing up a verandah post in the 

 front of the hotel ; visitors pass within a few feet of the nest all 

 day long. Close to the town of Kiandra, which is between 4,000 

 and 5,000 feet elevation, I was camping in a shed on Eight-Mile 

 Dam in December, and a pair of these birds built a nest on a 

 window-sill within a few feet of the head of my bed, and not very 

 far away another pair had a nest on the lee of a large eucalypt. 

 On 2oth December, 1914, I noted a pair building in the verandah 

 of the Guy Fawkcs Hotel, which is not far west of the Dorrigo 

 Mountains.— A. S. Le SouiiF, C.M.Z.S., R.A.O.U. Zoological 

 Gardens, Sydney, 16/5/19. 



Great Crested (Tippet) Grebes on Port Phillip. — During January 

 and February, while I was staying at South Melbourne, I fre- 

 quently saw a finely-plumaged specimen of this species between 

 the South Melbourne pier and the baths. It seemed to prefer 

 the shallow water near the shore, where it kept on diving. I 

 timed its performances a number of times with a stop-watch, and 

 found that the period which it stayed under water was very 

 constant, being about 37 seconds, and I never found it exceed 

 40 seconds. On 23rd March, when on the s.s. Karmala, lying 

 at the new railway pier at Port Melbourne, just before saiUng, I 

 again saw one of these birds, and thought it was probably my old 

 friend. Soon afterwards, however, a second was observed, and 

 then three more. The five birds were undoubtedly a family party, 

 as one of them — that first observed — was very much darker in 

 colour than the rest on the back and head, and seemed to have a 

 better ruff and crests. The others were presumably birds of the 

 year, or possibly one may have been the female, though I do not 

 think the female is usually noticeably different from the male. — 

 W. B. Alexander. Perth (W.A.), 14/5/19. 



