I 26 Stray Feathers. list Oct. 



thick as they were before the drought. On the other hand, 

 Butcher-Birds are scarce and Jackasses (Dacelo) extremely rare. 

 Magpies appear to have got through fairly well. Little Quail (or 

 Turnix) are very numerous on the forest country where the grass 

 is rank, owing to the want of stock or marsupials to eat it. 

 Betcherrygahs are, I think, more numerous than in normal 

 years. 



I notice two of your correspondents quote instances of Fly- 

 catchers righting their reflections in a window. With us the 

 Magpie-Lark (Grallind) does the same. At my cottage in 

 Clermont, one bird woke me every morning by tapping at 

 my bedroom window, and eventually knocked out the pane 

 of glass — the putty in this climate getting very brittle and 

 easily detached from wood, which shrinks. I cut away the 

 branch of vine the bird used to stand on, so now he visits 

 another window where a tank gives him a coign of vantage. 

 The Wild Turkeys (Bustards) have not come back, and 

 there are very few Scrub Turkeys (Talegallus). Pigeons and 

 Doves are fairly numerous, but the various Ducks very scarce. 

 Where I am at present camped Finches are very numerous. 

 The whirr of their wings when disturbed at the drinking-trough 

 gives one quite a start. Bower-Birds (Spotted) are fairly plentiful, 

 and there was a very fair " play-house " quite close to my tent 

 at my last camp, and their antics were very amusing to watch.— 

 F. B. C. Ford. Survey Camp, Clermont (Q.), 18/8/03. 



From Magazines, &c. 



AMONGST publications received is one (forwarded by the courtesy 

 of Dr. O. Finsch from the Leyden Museum) dealing with a species 

 of African Pitta. The author prefers the name P. argolensis 



to some others which have been used for this bird. 



* * * 



A Natural History of Western Australia.— The Govern- 

 ment of Western Australia has issued, in a compact and profusely 

 illustrated form, some extracts from the Year-Books of that 

 State. This is virtually not only a natural history of the State, 

 but a guide to its geology and many other scientific matters. 

 The able article on birds is contributed by Mr. A. W. Milligan, 

 and hence there is no need to give it further praise. When the 

 new species recorded since have been added, it will prove most 

 valuable as a work of reference to Australian ornithologists, as 

 well as to those whose interest is confined to other branches of 



natural history. 



* * * 



LAND BIRDS AT Sea. — Mr. David G. Stead (Sydney) writing to 

 The Zoologist (June, 1903), states that Mr. George Hutton, of 

 the Orient liner Omrah, informed him that while this steamer 

 was on a recent trip from Ceylon to Australia a Crow accompanied 



