234 Shay Feathers. | 2n 



Emu 



d April 



leucoptera, obtained, as the labels disclosed, at the Blackwood 

 River, in the southern portion of Western Australia. As 

 the species is regarded as a purely tropical form, I, from motives 

 of abundant caution, determined to await the return of Mr. J. T. 

 Tunney (who collected them) from Northern Australia, and 

 receive confirmation of the notes on the label before publishing 

 the record. Mr. Tunney, having now returned, confirms the 

 notes. The fact above recorded is just about as perplexing as the 

 presence of Petroeca goodenovi at Rottnest Island and its absence 

 on the coastal side of the Darling Ranges. — A. W. MlLLIGAN. 



Perth, W.A. 



* * * 



Plumage Phases of Ptilotis leucotis. — In an interesting 

 article by Mr. Robert Hall, entitled " The Plumage Phases of 

 Ptilotis leucotis" {Emu, vol. iii., pages 43-45) that gentleman 

 records the measurements of a number of skins of the species 

 from fledgling to adult, and concludes by giving the measure- 

 ments of the largest example as follows : — Total length, 9 inches ; 

 wing, 4.05 ; tail, 4.03 ; tarsus, 1 inch ; culmen, 0.5 inch ; and 

 of the smallest example as 7.5 inches, wing 3.2, tail 3.45 , tarsus 

 0.85 inch, and culmen 0.5 inch. A comparison with the 

 measurements of the largest example, which substantially 

 corresponds with the measurements of skins in the Western 

 Australian Museum obtained from Victoria, shows that the 

 Western bird is not only materially smaller in every particular, 

 but also smaller than an Eastern juvenile bird of the species. — 

 A. W. MlLLIGAN. 



TASMANIAN OOLOGY. — We have had such a wet season that the 

 lakes (Sorell and Crescent), which are usually separated by half 

 a mile of good collecting country, have overflowed and now join, 

 and this has driven all water-birds away. Nests with eggs were 

 observed of the following varieties : — Tribonyx morticri (Native- 

 Hen), Acanthochcera inauris (Yellow Wattle-Bird), Graucalus 

 melanops (Small-billed Cuckoo-Shrike), Pachycephala olivacea 

 (Olive Thickhead), Circus gouldi (Swamp-Hawk), Cracticus 

 cinercus (Grey Butcher-Bird), Strepera fuliginosa (Black Crow- 

 Shrike), and several other smaller kinds. Last week I spent two 

 days in the Sandford district, about 12 miles from Hobart, and 

 collected eggs of the following birds : — Platyccrcus cximius 

 (Rosella), clutch ten eggs ; Circus gouldi (Swamp-Hawk) ; Pachy- 

 cephala olivacea (Olive Thickhead) ; Porphyrio melanonotus (Bald- 

 Coot), clutches six eggs each ; Cuculus pallidus (Pallid Cuckoo) ; 

 besides several others of the commoner varieties. While at the 

 Lakes I took a nest of the Gymnorhina hyperleuca (Lesser White- 

 backed Magpie) containing four eggs, three being the usual size 

 and the fourth about the size of a Sparrow's egg, but as round 

 as a marble— rather a freak. — W. A. ATKINS. Hobart, 17/1 1/03. 



