234 Camera Craft Notes. [isfTrii 



instances where both birds were not in sight appeared to point 

 in the same direction. In 1915 we have notes of four cases 

 where both birds were in sight at the same time. Three times 

 the female answered, and once there was no answer. In six 

 other instances the male only was in sight, and certainly made 

 no answer to his own whip-note. During the present season 

 we have kept notes of seven cases in which both birds were in 

 sight together. In every case the reply was by the female. In 

 four other instances where the male only was in sight there were 

 two answers and two calls unanswered. In no case did the male 

 make the answering call. There have also been occasions where 

 the female was in sight and made the answering notes, but we 

 have not kept a record of these. We have not on any occasion 

 heard the male make the answering notes to his own call, nor the 

 female to make the whip-crack. — R. T. Littlejohns, R.A.O.U., 

 AND S. A. Lawrence, R.A.O.U. 



Stray Feathers. 



Crows and Sheep. — Is the Crow acquiring the same habit as 

 the New Zealand Kea ? This year the Crow has been a terrible 

 scourge among our ewes and lambs, and often before the ewe 

 could get up the CrowS had the eyes plucked out and the lamb 

 killed. But another feature has come under my observation 

 lately which has not been noticed in this district before. The 

 Crows actually picked a hole in the sheep's back right into the 

 kidneys to get the fat ! This sheep I had to kill, as the poor 

 thing would not have lived much longer. I thought this was 

 an isolated case, but one of my neighbours had three or four, and 

 another one, the Crows doing exactly the same. This would 

 almost point to a time in the near future when the Crow will be 

 as bad as the New Zealand Kea. — Joseph A. Hill. Phoracantha, 

 Golton South, via Lubeck, Vic. 12/11/17. 



Cuckoo Combinations. — ^The following rare Cuckoo combmations 

 have been recorded by us : — Hylacola pyrrhofygia (two eggs) and 

 Cacomantis fiabelliformis (one egg), recorded near Sutherland, 

 N.S.W., on 12/8/17 ; Falcunculiis frontatiis (two eggs) and Caco- 

 mantis flabeUijormis (one egg), recorded at Blacktown, N.S.W., 

 on 13/10/17. — P. A. Gilbert and H. Keane. Redfern (N.S.W.), 

 17/11/17. 



* * * 



Hooded Dottrels. — A male Hooded Dottrel {Mgialitis ciicul- 

 lata) was observed on a lonely stretch of sandy beach fronting 

 the ocean, occasionally running in from the water's edge, but 

 generally interested in the results of the receding tide. After 



