ASHBY — Australia's Mocking Bird. 81 



From the 22nd to the 25th of the same month I was at Lnna- 

 wanna, South Bruny Island ; the weather was very wet and I 

 had but little time to spare, apart from the strenuous marine 

 work I was engaged in. I collected skins of the Whistling Shrike 

 Thrush (Colluricincla harmonica strigata Swainson) ; the 

 rufus eyebrow and spangled breast are , rather striking fea- 

 tures, also as I have before noted its whistle is superior, and in 

 some respects distinct, from the mainland birds. Also a Tasma- 

 nian Raven {Corvus coronoides tasmanicus Mat.) was shot, 

 feeding on the flotsam of the beach. Certainly this bird has an 

 exceptionally robust beak, as compared with the birds of the 

 mainland. 



The Brown Scrub- Wren [Tasmanornis humilis Gould) was 

 noted ; all the species of Honey-eaters heretofore noted as near 

 Hobart were seen on the Island, with the addition of the Tasma- 

 nian Spine-bill, which was very numerous. Several of the Grey- 

 tailed Thickhead {Pachycephala pectoralis glaucura Gould) 

 were seen, but they were not in song. I was pleased to see the 

 Tasmanian Wattle Bird {Dyottornis paradoxus Daudm) feed- 

 ing on Honeysuckle (Banksia) blossoms. 



The Pink-breasted Robin (Erythrodryas rodinogaster Dra- 

 piez) is found in the secluded fern gullies on the Island. What 

 I take to be Swamp Quail (Synoicus ypsUophorus) is fairly 

 numerous at Lunawanna, but all agreed that there were two 

 forms, the smaller still numerous, and the "very much larger 

 one", rarely, if ever, seen on the Island. 



I am able to record, on what I consider quite reliable in- 

 formation, the fact that the Tasmanian Tawny-crowned Honey- 

 eater {GUciphila melanops crassirostris Mat.) has .recently put 

 in an appearance at Lunawanna. I knew it occurred, although 

 rare, on the north-east coast of Tasmania, and a .friend of mine 

 took a clutch of eggs there, but this far southern locality is quite 

 new to me. 



Australia's Mocking Bird. 



—By Edwin Ashby, F.L.S., M.B.O.U.— 



The Victorian Lyre-Bird (Menura novae-hollandiae vie- 

 'aria" Gould). — Although the season for the Lyre-Birds to be 

 calling had not arrived, Easter Monday, being very wet, one of 

 my friends suggested that we should go into the Fern Gullies, 

 and trv and hear this wonderful bird, as heavy rain seems to 



