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Mr. Charles Barrett,



harvest of sun pictures was large, and every hour spent among the

birds was filled with interest. Besides, Mr. Egger gave liberally from

his stock of bird lore, which appeared to be inexhaustible.


A few days were spent in and around the town. White-

browed Wood-Swallows (Artamus superciliosus ) were nesting in

every tree along the streets, on fence-posts, and other sites. Nests

of the Sordid Wood-Swallow ( A. sorclidus) were also noted. From

the hotel balcony I watched a pair of the former species feeding

three fledgelings, perched in a tree whose branches brushed the

railing. Every few minutes one or other of the parent birds would

come swooping from the sky with a bunch of insects held in its

beak, distribute the food, and shoot into the blue again. At any

time in the day, if one looked overhead, Wood-Swallows could be

seen flecking the sky, some at a great height. “ Sky ” is the local

name for all the species of Artamus that frequent Jerilderie, and it is

both pleasing and suitable, for the birds seem to revel in their

beautiful flight.


In my companion’s garden many birds were nesting. Wood-

Swallows, of course, being in the majority. A box-thorn hedge,

fencing the western side of a paddock, was favoured by Tricoloured

Bush-Chats (Ephthianura tricolor), and I spent nearly a whole

afternoon with the camera at a nest which contained three heavily-

incubated eggs. The temperature w 7 as over 100° in the shade, and,

though I protected the camera with the focussing cloth, the base was

cracked by the heat, and several plates were fogged. But I secured

gbod photographs of the male and female Chats at the nest. The

male was much the bolder of the pair, and my long vigil was due

chiefly to the timidity of the female. In bright sunlight, the scarlet

cap and breast of the male, as it sat in the nest, shone like flakes of

fire. Many nests of the Tricoloured Bush-Chat were found in a bed

of star thistles on the outskirts of the town, and others among long,

dry grass in the paddocks. Later, when travelling across the plains,

specimens of the Orange-fronted species ( E. aurifrons ) were

observed, but no nest discovered.


With Mr. Egger I made two trips to Yanko Creek, about 16

miles from Jerilderie. On the first occasion we visited, en route, a

great rookery of the Straw-necked Ibis (Carphibis spinicollis ) in a



