ASHBY — Some Tasnianian Bird Notes. 



The nest was jnsi outside the diuin<;- room window, thuH 

 Mrs. Drake was able lo watch them closely durino- the whole 

 process of incubation and raising of the yonn<;. Two chicks 

 wei-e successfnlly l)r(»n.i>ht np. The nest had noi been occupied 

 since, either by the original ownei-s or by the intruders. Mrs. 

 Drake S'tated that the Kobins had a good ideal of trouble at first 

 in keeping the Swallows out. There seems no doubt as to the 

 identity of the Kobin, for the pair were continually round the 

 house during my visit, and my informant pointed them out UvS 

 lieing the same species that had occu|»ipd the nest. 1 brought 

 the nest away with me; it is lined with fine grasses, some 

 fraved soft istring, jtieces of dai-ning cotton, and a small i)iece 

 of silk. 



— Reasoning powers of the JJhie \Vren and its value to the- 

 Horticulturist. — 



Mr. \A'. 11. Vaughcin, of Lunawanna, South Bruny Island,. 

 Tasmania, who is a bird lover, gave me a rather intei-esting 

 instance of the value of the Long-tailed Blue Wren (AlaluruH 

 longicaudns, Gould) to the farmer and its power of deduction 

 and learning by experience. He was digging in his garden 

 with a companion and turning up with the soil numbers of 

 short white grubs, pi-obal>ly bettle larvae, as it was a piece of 

 new ground. A cock Blue Wren flew (h)wn, picked w\\ three 

 grubs and flew off to his nest only a few yards away and 

 returned once or twice picking up a similar number. 



It then tried four grubs at a time, but while it could ])ick 

 up the four, it could not carry the extra one off, it fell out of 

 its beak dii-ectly it attempted to fly. The bird was most per- 

 severing, picking it up again and again each time only to be 

 met with failure as soon as flight was (attempted, finally it 

 accepted the lesson and carried away the three grubs to its 

 hungry offspring. Throughout the long morning of fully four 

 hours this diligent little bird went back and forth between the 

 digger and the nest, but never once did it attemi>t again to 

 carry four grubs at a time, hut was content with the three it 

 could successfully handle. It was so tame that it often 

 perched on the moving fork as he dug and sometimes on his 

 boots. Mr. Vaughan thought that it could not have taken 

 much moie than two minutes to take up each triplet of grubs 

 and unload .same to its young, but if we double his e.stimate, 

 which will be a liberal allowance, we find that the single bird 

 had destroyed during the morning fully 150 of these injurious 

 larvae. 



