^'°'g^J^] Stray Feathers. 97 



gathering. They stayed here in the inundated country till 

 the flood waters drained away, and then they too left. From the 

 end of May till the 20th of June there was not a single 

 specimen to be seen here, although there were plenty to be seen 

 in the high country along the creek. On the above date I was 

 taking a stroll, looking at my grass and stock, when I came 

 upon a huge flock of these birds, which had come down the creek 

 apparently from the high country, I instantly thought of more 

 rain, and, sure enough, on the 23rd we had a fall of 77 points. 

 This brought the creek down in flood again, and the birds were 

 here, just as they were previously, in large flocks, and stayed 

 only till the waters subsided. Since that date we have had 

 continuous rains, and this part is practically under water all 

 round, but I have seen no sign of these " forecasters " since that 

 flood. I conclude that they only appear in dryish spells before 

 a flood or heavy rain. Although their coming and going is 

 practically instantaneous, from observations (if it is the same 

 body seen) I think that they come from the north, although, in 

 the last-mentioned flood, if they came from the high country 

 they travelled from the south-east to north-west. In May I was 

 able to make the following observations, which might prove 

 interesting to ornithologists : — Thursday, 20th May. — Round 

 the house under water on the south-east and east side, and 

 here were to be seen tremendous flocks of these birds. 

 Roughly estimating, as one does a flock of sheep, there must 

 have been anything between 3C0 and 400 Hens. I was hiding 

 behind a hedge, and was within 20 yards of the nearest birds. 

 When feeding, every now and then one or two of these birds 

 will run round in a small circle, violently flapping their wings, 

 and then end up by running swiftly with both wings outspread, 

 but motionless, and necks stretched forward. They will then 

 come to a dead stop. The running bird generally stops by 

 another one which is feeding, and that one instantly takes up 

 the running, so during feeding there is generally one on the run. 

 My opinion is that they do this in order to disturb hidden 

 insects, although the ground was very wet. Other birds were in 

 deeper water, immersing themselves time after time. Then, 

 coming out, after plunging the head and shoulders under the 

 water, they would shake themselves and repeat the performance. 

 Other birds were running up a stout gum-tree, standing at an 

 angle of about 70 degrees. These would perch on the nearly 

 vertical trunk, and then fly off it again. They did not seem 

 to me to be able to cling on for long. When feeding they 

 were fairly quiet, but every now and then one would give a 

 peculiar sharp cry. Their menu consisted chiefly of small black 

 crickets, which are washed out of the cracks in the ground in 

 countless numbers. — E. J. Christian. Wingi Park, Milloo P.O., 

 via Prairie fVic), 30/7/09. 



