Vol. XVII. 

 1917 



J Stray Feathers. 



Ill 



the top of an adjoining dogwood, and, steadying herself by 

 clinging with her feet uppermost to every twig in its line of descent, 

 gradually came to the earth, when it very slowly collapsed upon 

 its side. The feathers of the neck shivered, and then lay quite 

 open and loose, and the brilliant beady eyes nearly closed. Then 

 like a flash she was up and away, but speedily returned, to repeat 

 the same manoeuvre over again, until I quietly drew away from 

 the heavily-breathing, naked bird babies in their cosy nest, and 

 left them to their mother's care. — A. Chas. Stone, South Yarra. 



Warburton Bird Notes. — Yesterday (30th April), at 10.30 a.m., 

 whilst working in my office, I pricked my ears at an unusual bird 

 call outside. Surely a Cuckoo ? On going outside, the plaintive 

 trill of the Fan-tailed Cuckoo was heard in all directions, and in 

 the distance the sad note of the Pallid Cuckoo. There must have 

 been at least a dozen Fan-tailed Cuckoos calling, and three were 

 seen in a small tree fronting the road. They were in evidence 

 for about ten minutes, and then all departed as abruptly as they 

 came, and have not been heard or seen since. Doubtless they 

 were on their way back north. On several occasions last week 

 a fluttering at the window announced the visit of a Black-and- 

 White Fantail, apparently desirous of engaging in mortal combat 

 with his own reflection. Butcher-Birds are heard every day. One 

 in particular has a very musical song, which might be attempted 

 in musical notation thus: — 



:q=z): 



-&—— — -—\-^—a-& 



— ^ — ^ — I— *^^ ^— e=? 



© —r-^^- 



-^ © 



Lyre-Birds are fairly plentiful along the Donna Buang road, and 



by going quietly one can get quite close to them.— A. E. Rodda. 



Warburton, 1/5/ 17. 



* * * 



Late Migrants in Tasmania.— The following three species of 

 birds, which usually go northward in the autumn, are, in June, 

 still about Hobart, their most southerly range in the Australian 

 Region : — 



Australian Curlew {Numenius cyanopus, Vieillot) was on the 

 sandy beach of Bellerive this morning (12th June). It is not a 

 good feeding-ground' — in fact, a bad one, and the Silver and 

 Pacific Gulls (being too clean) appear to be the only birds which 

 get a living upon it. The two Curlews had probably strayed, as 

 the morning was well shrouded in fog. It is the first morning this 

 winter with a fog and a frost combined. Perhaps the food supply 

 in their familiar grounds had frozen. One of the two birds was 

 calling. This is the month for being well into the breeding period 

 in the tundra of North-East Siberia. 



