yo stray Feathers: [,sf7"'y 



Various Strays. — Mr. H. L. White sends a clipping from the 

 Daily Telegraph (Sydney), dated 17/5/ig, which states that at 

 Mountain Ash, Mongarlowe, Mr. G. Sharpe shot a monster Wedge- 

 tailed Eagle {Uroaetiis aitdax) which measured 7 feet 8 inches 

 from tip to tip of wings, and weighed 12 lbs. It would have been 

 interesting to know the sex of this bird. 



Mr. I. W. De Laney the other week reported an unusual 

 suburban sight. In a garden at Elsternwick (5 miles from Mel- 

 bourne) he noticed a White Hawk {Astiir novcB-hollandice) in a 

 pcpper-trcc, eating a rat. 



Mr. Tom Carter, M.B.O.U., writing from Western Austraha, 

 states : — " I have described in the Bull. B.O.C. a new sub- 

 species of Stipiturus (Emu- Wren) from the Maalock country. Mr. 

 Alexander and myself compared a series of each from Dirk 

 Hartog Island, the South-West Coast, and the new bird. It comes 

 midway between the two first named, and all three birds are 

 quite distinct from each other, according to their several locali- 

 ties." — A. J. Campbell. 



* * * 



The Blackbird in Tasmania. — It may be of interest to place on 

 record some details of the first nest found in our island of the 

 English Blackbird {Meritla merula). Although discovered a couple 

 of seasons ago, it has been travelling among the ornithologists, 

 and has only lately reached me, having been brought down from 

 Launceston by Mr. H. C. Thompson. The Blackbird in England 

 usually builds of coarse grasses and rootlets, using mud as a lining 

 only, on which is placed a secondary lining of fine grass-stems. 

 The peculiarity of the Tasmanian structure is that it is practically 

 built of mud, that material forming the foundation, sides, and 

 rim, while on the exterior are stuck strips of gum-bark, small 

 twigs, and bits of dry bracken. Inside the deep cup is placed a 

 thick lining of dry gum-leaves, and on this again the secondary 

 fine grass-stem lining. The mud has set almost like cement, 

 and thus the nest has survived its journey ings wonderfully well. 

 The dimensions are : — Outside diameter at rim, 6 inches by 

 5 inches ; inside diameter at rim, 4^ inches by 3J inches ; total 

 depth outside, 5 inches ; depth egg-cavity, 2'f inches. The nest 

 was found in the vicinity of Russell's Plains, a few miles from 

 Launceston, by Mr. F. Claridge, and when visited on 4th Decem- 

 ber, 1916, contained four eggs, which were quite warm, but 

 Messrs. Thompson and Claridge could not obtain a sight of the 

 bird. Since then, however, a pair of Blackbirds has been seen 

 by the owner of the Queechy estate, near Launceston. The 

 structure was placed about 7 feet from the ground in a fork of 

 prickly wattle {Acacia verticillata), the mud of the foundation 

 projecting between the branches of the fork. — H. Stuart Dove, 

 F.Z.S. West Devonport (Tas.), 5/5/19. 



Pelicans in a Thunderstorm. — During the afternoon of 28tli 

 February, 1919, tliis district was visited by a terrific thunder- 



