I 12 



Emu 



Stray Feathers. \^l ^^^ 



X898. 



No entry of any kind to be found among my notes. 



1899. 

 Very wet and prolonged winter. Birds all later than usual. No dates 

 recorded. This year Cuckoos and Swallows were very few in number. 



1 900. 

 Very severe, frosty winter. Swallows in August. Cuckoos early in 

 Septeinber. Wood-Swallows and Cuckoo-Shrike, October. 



1901. 

 A,th August — Pallid Cuckoo. 

 wth August — Welcome Swallows. 

 20th August — Fan-tailed Cuckoo. 



About i^tJi September — Bronze Cuckoo, and a few days later Wood- 

 Swallows were about. 



1902. 

 Birds remained till near the end of April. 



— (Miss) J. A. Fletcher. Wilmut, Tasmania. 



PVom Magazines, &c. 



In the Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, vol. xxvi., part 4, recently- 

 received, Mr. A. J. North, in brief but interesting notes on 

 Cuckoos, claims that the eggs of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo 

 {Caconiantis flabelliforniis) and the "Rufous-tailed" Bronze 

 Cuckoo {Chalcococcyx basalts) had not been previously recorded 

 from the nests of the Lambert (Variegated) Wren {Malunis 

 lamberti). He is correct regarding the smaller Cuckoo, but Dr. 

 E. P. Ramsay has been mentioned as the original authority for 

 the Lambert Wren as a foster-parent of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo — 

 vide Vict. Nat., vol. xiv., p. loi (Nov., 1897). 

 * •* * 



At the October (1901) meeting of the Linnean Society of 

 New South Wales, Mr. A. J. North, C.M.Z.S., contributed a note 

 on the synonymy of Maltirus cyaneus and M. superbus. The bird 

 named Motacilla cyanea by Ellis w^as met with during the stay 

 of Captain Cook's vessels, the Resolution and Discovery, in 

 January, 1777, at Adventure Bay, Bruni Island, near the south- 

 east coast of Tasmania. At that time Bass Strait had not been 

 discovered, and the latter island was regarded as the southern 

 extremity of Australia, and is so figured by Ellis, who was 

 assistant-surgeon to both vessels, on the chart accompanying his 

 work, published in 1782. The name of Malurus cyaneus, Ellis, 

 Mr. North states, will therefore have to stand for the Tas- 

 manian species of Superb Warbler or Wren, i.e., the Long-tailed 

 {gouldi), and that of Mahcrus superbus, Shaw, for the well- 

 known Blue Wren inhabiting south-eastern Australia. 



According to the strict law of priority no doubt Mr. North is 

 correct, and he is to be commended for his discovery — nearly as 



