Vol. II 

 igo2 



n Stray Feathers. 



cephalus spurius). There were few Ducks. I saw the Black 

 Duck, Teal, Hardhead or White-eye {Nyroca australis), and 

 Mountain Duck, also a few Southern Stone Plover, and I caught 

 a beautiful Freckled Podargus, but pulled his tail out, so let him 

 go. Bee-eaters, or Merops, are very plentiful this season, and 

 they were in trees just over the swamps in numbers. Bitterns 

 were common. One of our party described a pair of wonderful 

 green goose-like birds which he had shot in the lake on a pre- 

 vious visit, 60 miles north of Perth, and there is no doubt but 

 they were a pair of Green Goose-Teal {Nettopus pulcliellits). 

 Freckled Duck are fairly common over here, and are called 

 "Grey Duck." — E. A. Le Souef. 4/2/02. 

 * * * 



A Bicycle Spin with Emus. — In some parts of Gippsland 

 there are still a few Emus, which, fortunately being unmolested, 

 are very quiet, and if they happen to be near the road take 

 stock of passers by without moving a feather. Ordinary traffic 

 they are used to, but a man on a bicycle was apparently un- 

 known to some of them. Lately, while cycling at the back of 

 Lake Tyers, near the Nowa Nowa arm, I came suddenly along- 

 side five Emus among the bracken fern. I was moving slowly, 

 by reason of the bad road. The Emus were about 20 paces to 

 the right of the track, and evidently they said, " What manner of 

 ' bird ' might this be t " and to my wonder they moved along at 

 my pace for fully a quarter of a mile — I thought there must have 

 been a barbed-wire fence alongside them, but there was not. 

 Having satisfied their curiosity they quickened pace, and with a 

 left wheel made to cross the road about a chain ahead of me. 

 I was on for fun, too, and with a sudden spirt I came quite close 

 to them, and, sitting up, I gave a good colonial yell, which 

 made the big birds fairly " streak " over the road in a hurry. 

 The hindermost one I could almost touch, and in excessive haste 

 the bird came a beautiful " cropper" amongst the logs and ferns. 

 I stopped and looked round. They did likewise. I'm not sure 

 whether they considered my species to be extinct or that 

 perhaps I was " protected." I regretted not having my hand 

 camera, for I certainly could have made an interesting " snap." — 

 J. P. Campbell. Murrumbeena, Vic 



Swifts Roosting. — Referring to Mr. Le Souef's note on the 

 migration of Spine-tailed Swifts in the last number of T/ie Emu, 

 p. 149, and his inquiry as to whether any member of the 

 Aust. O.U. has observed this bird resting, I am pleased to say 

 that on 8th March last, whilst returning from Mornington in 

 company of Mrs. Shepherd and family, I observed a Swift 

 circling round and round a tall messmate tree (eucalypt) on the 

 public reserve at Somerville. It was just about dusk, and I was 

 convinced that the bird intended roosting in the tree. It 



