Vol. XIX 



1020 



] Stray Feathers 24$ 



the first black fcatluT on tlie throat. Tliis moult took four 

 weeks to complete from the first apparent sign. I kept this pair 

 of Wrens and no others until early this year, and the male 

 regularly in February and July of each year moulted almost 

 exactly as described above, being singularly regular in dates of 

 coming in and going out. The pair escaped through a hole in 

 the wire, and are now adorning my garden. I would like to add 

 that while my bird was out of colour I frequently met male birds 

 in full colour in the open, thus showing there is no apparent 

 regularity of hal)it with the species. — Clifford Coles. 



* * * 



Magpies Hatch Bantams. — The following letter from Mr. A. 

 Smith, Avonmore-avenue, North Norwood, w^as published in^ the 

 Mail (Adelaide, S.A.) of 8th November, igig : — " I have two hen 

 Magpies. They started to build a nest about 18 feet high in an 

 almond tree, and I helped them by making the frame of it with 

 the wire, hay tie, string, &c., they carried up. They both laid 

 three eggs each in the same nest, and tossed them all out but two, 

 and sat on them for two or three days, when I placed two bantams' 

 eggs in the nest. They tossed their own eggs out of the nest and 

 sat on the bantams' eggs. Instinct must have told them that 

 their eggs were not fertile. On Sunday, 5th October, I heard 

 the chickens chirping in the nest, so I took them away. Both 

 Magpies were very vicious, and flew at me when taking the chicks. 

 They still kept on sitting, and on Monday, 6th October, I placed 

 two more bantams' eggs in the nest, and on Sunday, 26th 

 October, I heard the chirping again, and there were two more 

 chicks, which I took away. The chicks are crossed between a 

 White Leghorn and Grey Bantam. The Magpies sat most of the 

 time on the nest together. They took it in turns to get off for 

 food, and one would feed the other. These Magpies would kill 

 the chickens the least chance they had, but on this occasion, being 

 the foster-mothers, they protected them." 



* * * 



"Early Birds." — Now that the days are so long, and light 

 begins at such early hours, it is interesting to turn out at day- 

 break and listen to the first voices of awakening birds. During 

 the second week of October I was out at that time, and heard 

 the first faint chirpings from the Crescent Honey-eater {Meliornis 

 australasiana), located in scrub not far away, at 4.20 a.m. Its 

 full voice was gained at a quarter to five. When living in a 

 clearing surrounded by bush in the Table Cape district I generally 

 noticed that the notes of this fine honey-bird were the first to 

 break the morning silence. On the October day just alluded to, 

 the Pallid Cuckoo {Cucitlits pallidus) came in a good second, then 

 the hurried strain of the Blue Wren {Maliiriis longicaudiis) reached 

 the ear, and almost at the same time the trill of the Fan-tailed 

 Cuckoo {Cacomantis flabclliformis). Since then, on 30th October, 

 the Pallid Cuckoo was calling at 4 a.m. while I was still in hunk. 



