r 74 S/ray Feathers. [, Emu^ 



bird was sitting on the egg, the hen bird being nowhere in sight ; 

 and on two other occasions this season I have heard of male 

 birds being disturbed off the nest; in most of the nests I have 

 before found it was the female sitting, but we now see that both 

 parents assist in the incubation. — D. Le Souef. 



Ground-Larks in Tasmania. — I have watched the move- 

 ments of Ground-Larks {Anthus aiistralis) for two successive 

 seasons, and find they arrived here on 25th August of the year 

 1901, and 20th August, 1902, respectively, and generally com- 

 mence to breed about the beginning of October. They leave 

 this locality again about the first week in April the following 

 autumn. Is this movement only local, or do these birds migrate 

 to the mainland of Australia ? 



It is quite noticeable the scarcity of some of our common 



birds this spring, and also the lateness in arrival of some of the 



migrating kinds. For instance, the Satin Flycatcher {Myiagra 



nitidd) and the Wood-Swallow {Ariamus sordidus) were quite a 



month late in putting in an appearance. — E. W. DEAN. Stirling, 



Tasmania, 5/ 11/02. 



* * * ■ 



Notable Migration of Native Companions. — On 12th 

 June Mr. A. C. Frankham, of Adelaide, when driving from 

 Balranald to Swan Hill, Victoria, noticed large num.bers of 

 flights of Native Companions {Grus anstralasianus) travelling in 

 a south-westerly direction, at a good height above the ground, 

 and each flock preserved a distinct V formation ; he first noticed 

 the birds in the middle of the afternoon, and from then until 

 sundown there was hardly a time when one or more flocks were 

 not visible. It is curious that such numbers of these birds 

 should be migrating towards the lakes at the mouth of the 

 Murray at the same time. Of course, the drought was the cause 

 of their travelling southward, but that would hardly account for 

 them going simultaneously. — D. Le Souef. 



Cairns Notes. — 15/9/02. — The season promises to be a 

 good one for birds in this district, owing principally, I believe, 

 to the fearful drought prevailing in other parts of the State. 

 The Calornis has been back several weeks, and yesterday 1 

 noticed them very busy building in their usual haunts. The 

 Nutmeg Pigeons {Myristicivora spilorrJiod) are also coming 

 down the coast in goodly flocks, and already I hear of several 

 projected murdering expeditions to the neighbouring islands. 



8/10/02. — The dates in Mr. Le Souef's paper in last number 

 of TJie Emu bear out what I have observed, that there are indi- 

 viduals of some species breeding in North Queensland the whole 

 year round. Going carefully into the dates one notices that 

 December and January are the main breeding months. A 



