I I A Stray Feathers I : 



Emu 

 st Oct. 



Emu, from which, then, the Tasmanian variety, extinct only 

 since the white man's advent, could not have essentially differed. 

 — A. G. Campbell. Melbourne. 



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Extension of Locality. — Sittella tenuirostris (Gould). — I 

 have to report the occurrence of this species in Western Aus- 

 tralia. Mr. Fred. Lawson forwarded to the Perth Museum 

 several skins which he procured in the Murchison district. I 

 think it is quite distinct from 5. pileata and entitled to rank as 

 a species. — Alex. Wm. Milligan. Perth, 17/8/03. 



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Striking Wires. — Podargus strigoides (Latham). — A friend of 

 mine, Mr. W. J. Reardon, of Guildford, Western Australia, 

 reported a singular occurrence to me which came under his own 

 observation concerning a bird of the above species. Whilst 

 crossing some fields between his country residence and the 

 Guildford railway station, his attention was attracted to a 

 large bird hanging on a neighbour's barb-wire fence. Being a 

 bird-lover (and, by the way, one who gives the despised Green- 

 backed Silver-eye (Zosterops gouldi) its full due as one of the 

 most potent enemies of the dreaded fruit-fly) he approached the 

 suspended bird, which he took to be dead, when it, to his surprise, 

 gave the most hostile signs of vitality by opening its capacious 

 mouth in an angry manner. Examining it carefully he found 

 it had impaled itself firmly by its wing on a projecting barb, and 

 in its struggles to get free had further entangled itself by throwing 

 itself over the cable and broken its wing. He at once disengaged 

 and released the bird. It is evident that in the darkness it had 

 flown directly against the barb with considerable force and struck 

 it with the shoulder of its wing. 



Anas superciliosa (Gmelin). — Another singular occurrence took 

 place at Highgate Hill (a suburb of Perth) some three months ago. 

 A pair of Black Ducks was observed to be flying very low, and 

 much to the surprise of a policeman and a resident, who were 

 engaged in conversation, the birds struck the telegraph wire, 

 with the result that one was decapitated and the other maimed 

 and killed. The policeman ignored the law of treasure-trove and 

 the other man was ignorant of it.— Alex. Wm. Milligan. Perth, 



17/8/03. 



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A Unique Oological Specimen. — The Emu is unfortunately 

 extinct in Tasmania, therefore it may be interesting to give the 

 dimensions of one of its eggs which is in the possession of the 

 writer. This unique specimen was collected about forty years 

 ago in the eastern district of the island, and if it is a fair type 

 of their size, these birds must have been slightly smaller than 

 the Australian race, and it would be interesting to know the 

 dimensions of any other authentic eggs that may still be in 

 existence (excepting the one in Mr. J. W. Mellor's collection, 



