236 stray Feathers-. [JlU 



one was always on the nest, there were two flying about ; and 

 after a few days, seeing the sitting one always in the same place, 

 I climbed up to examine it, and found that it had been built into 

 the nest, and was dead. The clay was firmly attached on either 

 side across its back. I took the poor little thing and four eggs 

 away ; the others then repaired the nest and laid and hatched their 

 brood of four. — (Miss) C. A. Luttrell. East Devonport, Tas. 



Nest of Pardalotus striatus. — During a holiday sojourn at 

 " The Creel," on the Thredbo River, January, 1917, I observed P. 

 striatus breeding in a large company in a bank of the Snowy River. 

 A few yards in from the bank I noted a small bird disappear into 

 a cleft about three feet from the ground, in the trunk of a small 

 snow gum. After hammering for some time on the tree with no 

 result, I sat and waited. Presently P. striatus appeared. P. 

 pundatus will breed in trees or bank, and striatus, as is well known, 

 will do likewise. This one of P. striatus is the lowest place of 

 any ever seen by me. — ^E. A. D'Ombrain. Sydney. 



Red-vented Bulbul. — It is interesting that one of our members. 

 Captain N. Conant, should have obtained a specimen of the Red- 

 vented Bulbul, of Burma. The bird was breeding, and its nest 

 and eggs were secured. Those birds have also apparently been seen 

 in Sydney. The bird must have been some time in Victoria, as 

 last year a clutch was evidently hatched in one of the Melbourne 

 suburbs ; a specimen was also seen lately at the Melbourne 

 Zoological Gardens. It has a clear, distinct, whistle-like note, 

 is dark greyish in colour, with a black crest and red patch under 

 the tail. But how it should have become acclimatized both in 

 Melbourne and Sydney is a puzzle. Neither of the Zoos has ever 

 imported them. — ^W. H. D. Le Souef. 



The Magpie-Lark {Grallina picata). — In the same tree as White- 

 fronted Herons, 15 miles west of Bendigo, a pair of these dainty 

 birds was sitting. They relieved each other every twenty 

 minutes while sitting. A bird would fly up to the side of the nest, 

 the sitting one get off and fly away, to come back in twenty 

 minutes to sit again. This was carried on all day. It was 

 wonderful how close to the twenty minutes they kept in relieving 

 each other. After the young were hatched they used to take 

 eight-minute spells away from the nest after food. A bird would 

 fly up on to the side of the nest, when the other, if on nest, would 

 get up and fly away for the same spell. One of the birds was 

 always at the nest, either sitting over young or standing on the 

 edge of the nest. — H. W. Ford, R.A.O.U. 



