1 86 Stray Feathers. [ 7 thJ^ 



a tree, commenced to make a meal off it. I knew these Shrike- 

 Thrushes occasionally took the eggs of other birds, but did not 

 think they would take a bird as large as a Quail. — D. Le SOUEF. 



* * * 



Flycatchers in a City. — In a busy part of Sydney lately, near 

 the Wharf, heavily laden lorries and other vehicles were con- 

 tinually passing. In a recess close at hand a small tree grew, 

 and in it lived a pair of Black and White Fantails {Rhipidura 

 tricolor). They seemed perfectly at home in their noisy quarters, 

 and caught flies off the lorry horses passing by, as if they thought 

 they had been driven past for that purpose. This shows how 

 tame these charming birds become when not persecuted. — A. S. 

 Le SOUEF. Zoological Gardens, Sydney. 



* * # 



" Tails " of Fantails' Nests. — With regard to the nest of the 

 Western Fantail {Rhipidura preissi), I was examining one the other 

 day, and noticing the usual apparently unfinished condition of 

 the end of the spout, with the solid impervious construction of 

 the nest generally, it suggested itself to me (the nest in question 

 being a trifle damp) that the spout was in reality a spout, allowing 

 the escape of any water received (as during rain) which could not 

 get through the solid nest itself. The raggedness of the end 

 would then serve an obvious purpose. — H. E. Hill. Guildford 



(W.A.), 16/9/05. 



* * * 



Pardalotes in Fairy Martin's Nests. — It is known the Par- 

 dalotes occasionally use Fairy Martins' old nests, but I am not 

 sure that that trait has been recorded of the Black-headed 

 Pardalote (P. melanoce phalus). One of these birds last Septem- 

 ber occupied a deserted Martin's nest under the verandah of 

 one of the outbuildings. By some chance one of the old birds 

 got caught by the feathers of the back of the head at the end 

 of the spout, and was found hanging there dead. A week after- 

 wards we pulled the nest down and there were half-fledged 

 young in it, also dead. — Chas. A. Barnard. Coomooboolaroo 



(Q.), 8/1 1/03. 



* * * 



BIRDS Blown TO Sea. — I was informed lately by Mr. Rea, of 

 Caramut, Victoria, that when a very severe bush Are swept over 

 that district from the North two years ago, hundreds of birds, 

 such as Cockatoos, Parrots, Cuckoos, Acanthizas, Fantails, and 

 many others, were blown out to sea by the northerly gale and Are 

 combined, and, apparently being unable to return against the 

 wind, got drowmed, the ocean beach in that neighbourhood 

 being for many days afterwards strewn with dead birds. — D. Le 

 Souef. 



[Similar instances are on record. Fire and flood cause many 

 faunal forms to be " lost at sea." — Eds.] 



