lAO Camera Craft Notes. [ist*''o'ci. 



Camera Craft Notes. 



Leipoa ocellata (rosinae) (Mallee-Fowl).— It was on a trip to 

 the IMallec during September, 1914, that a party of ornithologists 

 was fortunate enough to see nearly a dozen pairs of these most 

 interesting birds. All the birds seemed very tame, or, at least, 

 they did not clear out until disturbed by our approach. Many 

 mounds were located, and in nearly every instance they contained 

 eggs. It was also noted that the earth and leaves on top of the 

 egg-chamber were very fresh, which showed that the birds had 

 been there during the preceding hours. The accompanying 

 photographs show a mound in perfect condition, being well 

 constructed, with sure signs of containing eggs, so it was 

 decided to open up the mound and secure a photograph 

 showing the eggs in their natural position. At first sight it would 

 appear that one or two of the eggs are broken, but this is not the 

 case, for the eggs are partly surrounded by the decaying debris, 

 which, everyone knows, assists in the work of incubation. It will 

 also be seen that all the eggs are placed with the larger end upper- 

 most, so that the air-cell is always on top, thereby giving the bird 

 a certain amount of breathing space when on the point of 

 hatching out. The mound was found in a fine belt of mallee 

 just to the north of Boinka, on the Ouyen to Murrayville line. — 

 Herbert A. Purxell, R.A.O.U. 



Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon [Petrophassa riifipcnnis). — The 

 Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon is found in North-West Australia, 

 and I obtained tlie specimen illustrated from Arnhem Land, and 

 not far from the banks of the South Alligator River. (I always 

 think the name of this river most inappropriate, as alhgators are 

 not found in Austraha, except in zoos — only crocodiles.) These 

 birds are usually found on the rocky sandstone ranges, and are 

 most difficult to detect when they crouch down on the ground 

 among the stones, and it is quite possible that they are far more 

 plentiful than we imagine, as they are so easily passed by unseen, 

 should they not rise. They seem to be nowhere very plentiful. — 

 W. H. D. Le SouiiF. Melbourne. 



Photographing Young Birds.— The pliotography of young wild 

 birds is one of the most difficult l:)ranches of bird photography. 

 It is also a most important one. and the student who can spare 

 the time to obtain a daily series of photographs illustrating the 

 growth of the nestling from birth until the wing feathers are well 

 advanced has the opportunity to develop a valuable and almost 

 untouched field for study. The featherless chick presents the 

 greatest difficulties, for the detail must be brilHantly reproduced 

 to be of value as a record. In dense scrul), where a snapshot is 

 impossible under ordinary circumstances, the judicious use of a 



