108 Fletcher, Bird Notes front Wilmot, Tasmania. [istOct. 



Bird Notes from Wilmot, Tasmania. 



Bv (Miss) J. A. Fletcher. 



Part II. 



SINCE writing my last paper (see page 49) we have passed through 

 a very severe winter, and the native birds have had a trying 

 time. The Dusky Robins (Petraeca vittatd) and the Long-tailed 

 Wrens (Malurus gouldi) were in particular very tame, and very 

 attentive if any digging operations were going on. I tried hard 

 to get them to take worms and grubs from the hand. Though 

 they would hop to within a few inches of the hand, and the worms 

 would wriggle most invitingly, the birds were afraid. As soon as 

 the worms were put on my boot they would snap them up at 

 once. If the worm was an extra long one, they would fly to a 

 post or log and with a very smart turn get it endways on and so 

 swallow it. 



Early in July I had a dead female Scarlet-breasted Robin 

 {Petrosca leggii) brought to me. The tiny creature had evidently 

 died from starvation, as her poor little body was pitifully thin. 

 The Flame-breasted Robins (P. phceniced) left our district near 

 the end of April, and it was not until the 31st July that I noticed 

 them about again. Evidently they left to take their winter 

 journey to Victoria or elsewhere. 



This year, though the autumn was very mild, the Cuckoos did 

 not return to pay their usual fortnightly visit in April. Perhaps 

 some intuition warned them that the coming winter was to be 

 very severe. 



Though I gave prominence to the Black Crow-Shrikes (Strepera 

 fuliginosa) in. my last paper, it may not be out of place in this 

 one to mention that at present they are very attentive to the 

 early sowing of peas in the gardens, and have the knack of fol- 

 lowing a row right down and not missing a pea. They also 

 find their way into sheds where apples are stored, and as I write 

 I can hear a noisy flock on a recently sown oat-field. 



In our scrub-covered gullies the little Brown Scrub-Wren 

 (Sericornis humilis) flits about. 1 have found its old nests two 

 or three times. The Yellow-rumped Tits (Acantkiza chrysorrhod) 

 — merry little creatures — are very numerous ; so also are their 

 cousins, the Tasmanian Tits or Browntails (Acanthiza dic- 

 menensis). These latter are comparatively tame, and not afraid 

 of mankind. I found one of their nests made in a fallen leafy 

 branch. Both birds were busily working at it on one of the 

 last days in August. I was not able to look at the nest again 

 till the end of September, when the bird was sitting on three eggs. 

 Evidently they do not hurry their building operations. 



The Spotted Owls (Ninox maculata) are very plentiful amongst 

 these hills, and on moonlight evenings may often be seen perched 

 on the ridges of barns or on stumps and fences. Mice, I presume, 

 attract them to the barns. An incident of one of these Owls 

 returning to captivity came under my notice recently. The bird 



