Vol. III. 



1904 '] Stray Feathers. 1 89 



oatmeal and honey. These birds were obtained on Cambridge 

 Creek, some 30 miles north of Richmond township, Flinders 

 River, North Queensland. — Fred. L. Berney. Richmond (N.Q.) 



Southerly Range of Long-billed Cockatoo. — In continuation 

 of Mr. Geo. Graham's previous note ( The Emu, vol. iii., p. 1 16), 

 he states, under date 15th September : — " The most of our White 

 Cockatoos have been absent since midwinter, leaving us with 

 about ten only, with no ' Long-bills ' among them." However, 

 at a later date he says : — " In my immediate locality there are 

 the usual six or eight Corellas, and on the 16th October, between 

 Curdie's River and Cobden, I was surprised to see a large flock. 

 I counted seventy without counting all of them. They must 

 find the food supply suitable to their requirements, and will 

 probably in the future become as numerous here as in the 

 north. I have observed during the last twenty years that all 

 new comers among the birds are spring and summer visitors 

 before they become established as permanent residents." — W. J. 

 Stephen. 



RUFOUS v. Black Butcher-Birds. — Last Sunday morning, 

 whilst passing a grove of mango trees near the State Nursery at 

 Kamerunga, my attention was drawn to a Black Butcher-Bird 

 {Cracticus quoyi), and surmising that he had a nest in one of the 

 trees, I went and investigated, with the result that the nest was 

 discovered in the last tree of the grove ; I was quickly up along- 

 side the nest, which contained three nearly full-fledged young 

 ones, and you can judge the interest I felt when I found that 

 two of them were brown and the other jet black. I have got 

 the interesting little strangers at home and they give every 

 promise of being easily reared, as they eat voraciously. Should 

 they die I will put the bodies in spirits and send them to you, 

 but if they live I will probably take them to Melbourne with me 

 and present them to the Zoological Gardens, Melbourne. It is 

 very evident to me that, whilst the adult birds of each sex are 

 quite black, the male being black at all ages, the female's 

 immature plumage is brown. I am particularly anxious to rear 

 these young ones so as to ascertain at what age the females take 

 on the black plumage. — E. M. CORNWALL. Cairns (N.Q.), 



27/10/03. 



* * * 



Sociability of Birds. — Early in October, when strolling along 

 a river bank, I found in a willow tree overhanging the 

 water several birds nesting. They included the Restless Fly- 

 catcher (Sisura inquietd) and the Black and White Fantail 

 (Rhipidura tricolor), the two nests being about 5 feet apart, 

 and a Magpie-Lark (Grallina picata). The nest of the Restless 

 Flycatcher had three eggs in, and that of the Fantail four. I 

 could not see into the Magpie-Lark's nest, but the bird was sitting. 



