20 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS 



every 15 minutes. After the young have quitted the nest 

 for the first time, they return during the heat of the day 

 for several days following. The pipe in the tree above the 

 iiest serves the family as a night camp for 10 to 12 days 

 after the young have first left the nest. The non-sitting 

 bird camps in a place apart from the nest during the period 

 the nest is tenanted. While the majority leave the 

 district during the early autumn, a few remain^ and then 

 the old birds sing or twitter as well apparently as in the 

 spring. It is not unlikely that this is a training for the 

 remaining young in preparation for the following spring and 

 summer. 



Introduced Enemies.— Th^ fox and cat from the mother 

 country cause considerable trouble among our birds. The 

 cat, at the moment, I have noted, is raiding the dry parts 

 of North-Western Australia just as the fox is doing in the 

 south-eastern portion. Near Swan Hill I know the hall of 

 a country house that has a nest in it, and two nails below, 

 upon which the two birds perch in the dusk. In six weeks 

 previous to 1st October, 1898, seven birds were killed by 

 the cat that kept its place in this lobby. If one of a pair 

 was caught the mate would go away for about one to three 

 days and return with a consort. In a day or more one of 

 that pair would be captured, and away the other would go 

 for a mate and return with it. As to which sex was killed 

 no one could say, but I should think the same one, and 

 every time the stranger, thus showing the persistency of one 

 bird to follow up an idea, just as one of the same species 

 will start to rebuild its nest after it has been purposely 

 knocked down on four occasions within a month. 



In those districts where swallows build mostly in burnt- 

 out trees, the fox makes a thorough inspection, and all that 

 are not more than 6 or 8 feet above the ground sooner or 



