174 Stray Feathers. [,,fXpril 



Clermont (Q.) Notes. — Quails have been very plentiful through- 

 out the year, and bred continuously till June. We then had no 

 rain until the end of November, when I noticed the birds in pairs 

 and heard a difference in the call when coming to water in the 

 evening. Now the first of the young birds are appearing. The 

 Brown birds {Synctcus australis) were, I think, the most numerous, 

 and ke]:)t near the watercourses. The grey Stubble birds {Coiiirnix 

 pedoralis) were also plentiful, and kept to the high open downs ; 

 while the large three-toed Painted Quail {Tiirnix varia) frequented 

 the scrubs anci cane-grass flats. The last-mentioned are splendid 

 fliers, and I think the best shooting, as they swerve round a tree 

 or bush in very disconcerting fashion. The Little Quail {Turnix 

 velox) is still to be found, but is not nearly so plentiful as before 

 the large birds came. Surveying over the downs after the dry 

 weather had thinned the grass revealed an astonishing number of 

 old nests and egg-shells, and also the fact that a large percentage 

 of eggs are not hatched. 



Swifts appeared in great numbers on four occasions between 

 25th and 30th November, and on each occasion heralded a storm. 

 I shot one, and found it to be the White-rumped variety (Micro-pus) 

 with a spread of wing of i8| inches ; beak to tip of tail, 7I inches. 



Wild Turkeys or Bustards are getting plentiful, and bred in 

 November. Most birds waited for the rain, but Pigeons seem to 

 have laid pretty well the year through. Laughing Jackasses and 

 Butcher-Birds are still very scarce, although the bush is teeming 

 with mice and locusts. Asiatic Dottrels revisited their favourite 

 ridge on Langton, and Little Whimbrel, Greenshanks, and Pratin- 

 coles were reported to me. A handsome white Hawk (probably 

 Elaniis axillaris) with black shoulders is fairly common, and lives 

 on mice. Quails, and locusts. The Cockatoo-Parrots seem to have 

 left again, but " Betcherrygahs " (Warbling Grass-Parrakeets) are 

 very common, and hundreds are now in captivity, the boys round 

 the townships making quite a lot of pocket money out of them. — 

 F. B. Campbell Ford. 7/1/05. 



Clarke Island (Bass Strait) Notes. — It is surprising how 

 some birds of the same species differ in their respective nesting 

 habits as regards time. On one of the islands here, where I was 

 weather-bound for a week, I had the opportunity of noting this 

 with respect to the Cape Barren Goose [Cereopsis). Within a few 

 hundred yards of one another I found two clutches of young, one 

 of them comprising three well-grown birds just able to fly a little. 

 The birds of the other clutch, on the contrary, were only a few 

 days old. Proceeding a little further, I discovered another nest 

 with four fresh eggs, and still further another nest just built. The 

 Black Swan is the same to a less extent, as I have seen cygnets in 

 a half-fledged state, and within a few yards of them a clutch of 

 perfectly fresh eggs. 



The Teal, Black Duck, Musk-Duck, &c., are hardly to be seen 



