222 -"^trnv Feathers. [isf April 



the fact that nearly all the birds refrained from nesting. 

 Perhaps now that we have had some thunderstorms the birds 

 will start to build, as the red-flowering bauhinia (Hooker's, I 

 think), various mistletoes, and some eucalypts are in blossom, 

 and fairly alive with Honey-eaters — Friar-Hirds, the ubiquitous 

 Miner (Garrulous Honey-eater), and a striped one with flesh- 

 coloured bare patches being the most common. Dwellers in 

 tents, like myself, always know when the Friar-Birds are 

 building, as they have a decided fancy for threads from one's 

 towels and the loose frayed ends of the tent ropes. — T. B. 

 Campbell Ford. Clermont. 



MORTLAKE (Vict.) Notes. — For some years, until, I think, 

 the last one, a large number of Night Herons made the garden 

 of a Mrs. Stevens their home, and also bred there ; but they left, 

 and I have not been able to learn whether they have returned or 

 not. Red-capped Dottrels and some Sandpipers were first 

 noticed by me the ist or 3rd of August. Wild Turkeys have 

 been in this district the whole of the year, and towards the end 

 have been very numerous, flocks of 10 to 30 not unusual. Owing 

 to the growing scarcity of timber, nests of the following 

 birds have been found in unusual places : — A Raven's in fire 

 furrow, Rosella Parrot's in a rabbit's burrow, and a Red-backed 

 Parrakeet's in bunch of grass ; this parrot a few years since was 

 very numerous, and always nested in hollows of trees. On 

 29th August two Robins were seen in the town. In the second 

 week of November I had a White-browed Wood-Swallow (dead) 

 brought to me, and was told they were very plentiful about 14 

 miles from here. — H. QuiNEY. Mortlake, Victoria, 1 3/1/03. 



Nesting Note on the Harrier {Circus gouldi). — An 

 interesting phase in the nesting of this bird lately came under 

 my notice in Tasmania. Last October Mr. R. W. Legge, of 

 Cullenswood, found a nest of this Harrier situated among some 

 rushes growing in swampy land. The nest contained three fresh 

 eggs, and he took one for Col. Legge, his father, leaving the 

 other two. In December following, I paid the nest a visit with 

 Mr. Legge, and we were surprised to find that the female bird 

 kad laid another clutch of three eggs, and that two were 

 hatched out. Of the first clutch of three, one was taken, another 

 was addled, and the third hatched out, but when the youngster 

 was about a fortnight old the hen bird had again laid another 

 clutch of three, of which two hatched out, and the other was also 

 close on hatching ; consequently, when one of the parent birds 

 was sitting on the second clutch, the feeding of the young one 

 must have devolved on the non-sitting bird. One would naturally 

 have thought that the young one, about a month old, would 



