^'°''.9^o'^'] ^^^^y Feathers. 247 



Cormorant and Eels. — VVhik' standing on the bank of the Yarra, 

 ch)se to the Prince's Bridge, 1 noticed a Black Cormorant {P. 

 carbo) which had just captured an eel which appeared to be about 

 iSinches h)ng, and, although tlic hird was a large one, it seemed 

 to have difficulty in dealing with its wriggling prey. While the 

 bird was endeavouring to get an end of the eel into its bill, 

 preparatory to swallowing it, the eel twisted its body with snake- 

 like coils around the bird's beak and head. During this process, 

 which lasted for some minutes, the bird swam round in the water, 

 apparently not quite sure whether to deal with its prey in the 

 water or on land. However, it decided upon the former, and 

 proceeded to find the " end " of the eel. Several times the eel 

 nearly escaped, but was always recaptured and finally swallowed 

 whole. The eel was seemingly not content to die without a 

 struggle, for, to judge by the contortions of the Cormorant, the 

 eel must have had a very " rough passage " down its throat. The 

 bird, apparently in some distress, continued to swim around and 

 gulp and stretch its head and neck, at intervals drinking water 

 as if to aid the downward passage of the lively meal. Eventually, 

 however, the eel evidently subsided and resigned itself to its fate 

 (or the Cormorant's digestive system), for the Cormorant at last 

 moved off in search of fresh prey. Mr. A. Wilkie saw one of 

 these Cormorants trying to swallow one of these slippery 

 customers in the Botanical Gardens here not long ago, but the 

 Cormorant had a large eel, and had it on the bank. The trouble 

 was that, no sooner was the eel safely swallowed, than it popped 

 out again and had to be swallowed again. This game went on 

 for twenty minutes or more, until finally the eel had to remain 

 below exhausted. — Donald Thomson. Canterbury (Vic.) 



FXONOMIC SFXTION. 



The Spinebill as a Flower Fertilizer. — " There is a very free- 

 fiowering annual climber, the botanical name of which is not very 

 euphonious^ — Ipomaa qitamodit. A recent variety of it is better 

 known as the cardinal climber. This vine runs to a height of 

 8 to 10 feet, and is covered with beautiful cardinal-coloured 

 flowers, with long, tubular corollas. At a recent meeting of the 

 Agricultural Section of the Royal Society of New South Wales 

 Mr. Herbert J. Rumsey gave some interesting information in 

 reference to this plant. He said that when in America in i()i6 

 he visited a seed farm, where his attention was drawn to this 

 beautiful climber. The manager of the farm reported that, 

 though free flowering, and daily as each flower faded this was 

 followed by another one, yet the amount of seed produced was 

 very small. The manager asked Mr. Rumsey if he thought it 

 would be possible for it to set its seed better in Australia. 

 Arrangements were made at once for a trial, and in the summer 

 of 1916 and 1917 a nice length of it was planted, and no difficulty 



