176 Stray Feathers. [isf April 



axillaries. Some of the latter have obscure sub-terminal bars. 

 Bill lead-coloured ; iris hazel ; feet black. Wing, 9.4 inches ; bill, 

 1.48 inches. 



6th January. — Have examined another skin of a young male of 

 the same species — a skin of a younger bird than that of the 

 previous one. The lower wing coverts have not appeared ; it may 

 have been hatched six or seven weeks ago. It differs from the 

 skin already described inasmuch as the feathers on the back are 

 ashy-grey, with buffy-brown tips and subterminal brownish bars, 

 and that the wing coverts are, with few exceptions, white, not 

 parti-coloured. The tail feathers are white with a black sagittate 

 mark near the tip of all except the two outer feathers. The arrow- 

 head points towards the body. The two outer tail feathers are 

 black, except a portion of the inner web, which is white. Bill 

 slate-coloured, darker at the tip than at the base ; the mandible 

 very slightly notched ; length, 1.46 inches. Iris and feet as in 

 previous example. Wing, 7.6 inches. 



Spine-billed Honey-eater {Acayilhoryhuchiis teniiirosins). — 29th 

 January. — A family of these Honey-eaters frequents the garden 

 and visits a large fuchsia assiduously. One of them killed proves 

 to be a young bird in immature plumage. It differs from the 

 adult in being without the crescentic mark on the chest ; the throat 

 and chin are uniformly sandy-grey ; the rest of the under surface 

 is orange-brown ; head and back olive-brown ; upper surface of 

 wings glossy greyish-black (plumbaginous), under surface of wings 

 grey ; tail feathers, ten in number, black, except three, which are 

 white for about the half or one-third of their length reckoned from 

 the tip Iris brown tinged with red ; tarsus lead-coloured ; ui)per 

 mandible brown, lower mandible yellow. Wing, 2.25 inches ; bill, 

 0.64 inch. The long diameter of two eggs of this bird measures 

 0.78 inch and the short diameter 0.55 inch. 



Crescent Honey-eater {Meliornis australasiana). — An immature 

 male shot on the 26th December, 1903, has the under surface dusky, 

 and is without the crescentic mark of the adult male. The quill 

 feathers and tail feathers have the outer webs bordered with olive- 

 yellow. Length, 5.4 inches ; wing, 2.6 inches ; culmen, 0.5 inch. 



Welcome Swallow [Hiriindo neoxena). — A young Swallow was 

 being fed by its parent on the nth of February, 1904 ; it received 

 food whilst on the ground, and was also fed whilst Hying. On the 

 5th of September one Swallow was seen. 



Fire-tailed Finch {Zonceginthus hellus (?) ). — A most singular 

 Weaver Finch was shot by Mr. A. R. Reid on the ist of January, 

 1904. It resembles Z. hellus, but the tips of the upper tail coverts 

 are rusty-orange, and one of the tail feathers is bordered with 

 rusty-orange. The bill is orange-red, the feet light brown. The 

 vermicular markings are distributed over the whole of the back 

 and of the under surface, and are narrower than the vermicular 

 markings on normal examples of Z. bc/liis. Culmen, 0.44 inch ; 

 length, 4.4 inches ; tarsus, 0.62 inch. 



Pallid Cuckoo [Cucuhis pallidiis). —gth March, 1903. — A young 



