78



Dr. A. G. Butler,



The Butcher Bird, whose home was a patch of swamp oak-

trees beyond the lagoon, was a little savage at most times, and a

bossy fellow when nesting was in progress. He was not aggressive

in the same way as the Magpie, hut more hostile towards other

birds. The midgets feared him, for he occasionally caught one and

killed it. He had his “ butcher’s shop,” impaling his prey on

splinters, thorns, and twigs, where it was eaten at leisure or left for

future use. Sometimes two cock birds engaged in a running tight,

their strong hooked hills clipping sharply as they snapped at one

another amidst the houghs and in the air. The Sacred Kingfishers,

whose abode was in an arboreal ants’ nest only 50 yards from the

door, attacked everything that encroached upon their domain. Their

pet aversion was the Goanna, at which they would dart with great

vim and determination. It didn’t matter whether they were nesting

or not, they always showed fight to that egg thief. They were our

sentinels, for we always knew when a Goanna was about by the

noise they made. ::



A MOOT QUESTION.


By Dr. A. G. Butler.


(Concluded from p. 04.)


Now in the above observations it is admitted that the plumage

gets paler in wet weather, and the underlined in toto seems to indicate

that a similar effect is obtained with soapy water, although the

colour is not completely washed out; hut our member, Dr. Van

Soineren goes further, and states that he has a good series of skins

“ collected at all times, rainy season and dry, and not in any single

instance do any of the feathers show the slightest trace of this red

colour being washed out by wet.” Well, I don’t pretend to explain

why our member’s experience differs so remarkably from that of

other observant ornithologists, although I do not doubt that there is

an explanation.


As regards four bottles of water, each containing one feather

taken from dried skins, I should not expect them to change, and


* Goanna = so-called “ Iguana,” a species of Monitor Lizard.—G.R.



