38 



Stray Feathers: f, ^"'" 



[_ 12th July 



about capturing insects, while the Robins {^Petrccca leggii) made 

 short flights about the ground and fences. 



A young Fan-tailed Cuckoo {Cacoviantis riifidiis) was noticed 

 the previous day near the same place, catching larvae in the 

 grass, and attended by a pair of Scarlet-breasted Robins — 

 perhaps the foster-parents, but they did not attempt to take it 

 food. A large Hawk passed overhead, and the Cuckoo, which 

 was sitting on the fence at the time, merely glanced up, but did 

 not attempt to move, although the Robins chattered loudly. 



During this gathering the Wood-Swallows uttered very 

 frequently their reedy chirpings, but there was no note from the 

 " Summer-Birds." 



Spine-tailed Swift {ChcFtnra candaattd). — The movements of 

 this lightning-speeded migrant seem shrouded in mystery. 

 Those noticed by my friend, Mr. H. C. Thompson, of Launceston, 

 Tasmania, both last season and this, took a southerly course 

 when leaving. In a recent note he saj^s : — " The Swifts seen over 

 this city on the afternoon of Easter Thursday, 8th April, went 

 away towards the south-west, as did the others previously seen, 

 and they did not circle about as usual." While returning from 

 a boating trip with a party of friends on the River Mersey here 

 at Devonport, I happened to notice on looking skyward a small 

 body of Swifts moving across the river towards the south, at a 

 high altitude. This was at sunset on 31st March, the wind 

 being south-west, with a stormy sky. They were going straight, 

 at a good speed, as if making for some definite goal, and were 

 the only ones seen here this season — i.e., since the beginning of 

 February, when I came over from Victoria. It seems highly 

 probable that both the party seen over Launceston by Mr. 

 Thompson and those noted by myself near Devonport were on 

 migration, as the summer was at an end, and they were making 

 a straight course as if with some well-defined purpose ; but why 

 they should make to the southward with such persistence is the 

 puzzling point. Is it possible this fine Swift goes on the 

 principle of " great circle sailing," and sweeps round in a grand 

 aerial curve until it strikes the favouring current which will bear 

 it to the north .? The movements of the Spine-tail would make 

 an interesting subject for discussion in the columns of TJie Emu. 



Summer-Bird or Short-billed Cuckoo-Shrike {Coractna 

 parvirostris). — While walking down to the ferry with a couple 

 of friends on the afternoon of 8th May to cross the Mersey 

 River, I was surprised to see a company of about thirty 

 Summer-Birds at some height over the houses, heading to the 

 north-west at a good rate ; the wind was south-easterly, light, 

 sky somewhat overcast. It is very unusual to see such a large 

 number of this species together in May, although two or three 

 often stay the winter on the coast. From their mode of flight 

 I should judge this party to have been on migration, but to 



