Vol. IX. 



1909 



1 HAX^h, Notes on (he Magpie (Gymnorhina leuconota). 2T 



find sufficient, and so the fighting continued at frequent intervals 

 every day. They were being closely watched. As time passed 

 the fighting fits grew less, because the two milder young birds, 

 for the time being outsiders, grew expert in providing for them- 

 selves. By 25th December all fighting ceased, and the two 

 outcasts began to feed on the same ground as their parents, but 

 not with them. In the earlier stages of their development they 

 would certainly have perished had insect life been scarce. I 

 have reason to believe that every third member of each brood 

 dies of starvation, either in the nest or after leaving it. I have 

 found, extending over several nesting periods, many young birds 

 perfect in their development, and in the last stage before leaving 

 their parents, lying about dead, with empty stomachs. If one 

 searched a wider radius, a great number would be found to have 

 been destroyed from the same cause. The stronger bird — in this 

 case the finer fighter — has the better opportunity of existing, 

 while the weak must succumb. 



The female matures at two years of age. If a young domesti- 

 cated female be not kept a close prisoner it invariably wanders 

 away, finds a mate, and nests. 



After August, large or small flocks of both sexes occupy 

 restricted spaces of feeding ground. They are non-breeders, 

 and are gregarious for a season. I take them to be the last 

 season's young birds that have become associated after having 

 been driven away by their parents. The flock occupies the 

 ground chosen until the following season, when they disband 

 and disappear. Whilst incubating, the females are occasionally 

 fed by the males, but the females always leave the nest to feed 

 during early morning and evening. 



The young (Observation i) are reared chiefly on a small black 

 grub, the larva of a night-flying moth. Five are gathered in the 

 bill, pulped, then fed to each nestling. The average number of 

 visits to the nest with food, per hour, is four for each parent. 



The bill of the young bird appears to change from slaty-black 

 to white when it arrives at one year of age. More evidence is 

 needed upon this portion of the observation. 



Whilst the females are sitting, the males generally camp as 

 near to them as possible. At other seasons the females prefer 

 the tall eucalypts where the forest is thinnest. 



A Suburban Sanctuary. — The Governor in Council has 

 authorized the proclamation of the ground of the Victoria Golf 

 Club, at Fishermen's Bend, as a sanctuary for animals and birds. 

 The area comprises about 130 acres, near the south bank of the 

 Yarra, leased by the club from the Crown. It is the intention 

 of the club to plant the area with trees — wattles, &c. — which 

 will be ornamental and at the same time provide shelter for the 

 native bird life. 



