Vol. IX. 

 igio 



J Stray Feathers. 247 



Tooth-billed Bower-Bird. — I have rarely been out of the 

 scrub since February last, and have had ample opportunities of 

 watching our friends the Tooth-billed Bower-Birds {Scenopceetes 

 dentirostris), and am certain that for three or four months the birds 

 leave the district ; moreover, they do not immediately construct 

 bowers, or rather play-grounds, when they return, as I heard and 

 saw them often before I saw the first bower. From February 

 last until the middle of August I did not see a trace of a playing- 

 place ; now I see them wherever I go. The conclusion is, there- 

 fore, that the bird makes its play-ground preparatory to nesting.* 

 They are exceedingly numerous in the scrubs this season, also 

 the Rifle-Bird {Ptilorhis victorue) is often in evidence. — Bertram 

 Green. Atherton, Queensland, i6th November, 1909. 



* * * 

 Flame-breasted Robin (Petrceca phcenicea). — In an edi- 

 torial footnote to a note by Mr. H. Stuart Dove in the previous 

 issue of TJie Emu (p. 172) on this species breeding in immature 

 plumage, it is stated that this fact had not been previously 

 reported. On referring to Mr. A. J. North's " Nests and Eggs," 

 &c. (vol. i., p. 166), I find he records two instances as having 

 been observed by correspondents. It was in the spring of 1896 

 that the breeding of birds in immature plumage came pro- 

 minently under my notice, owing to a pair building on the rail 

 of a fence in my father's garden. Since that date I have come 

 across a number of similar instances. Mr. H. C. Thompson 

 informs me that one year every nest of this species he observed 

 round Launceston was in possession of immature-plumaged 

 birds. — Frank M. Littler. Launceston, 28/1/10. 



* * * 



The White-throated Fly-eater. — Mr. A. G. Campbell's 

 note in the last issue of TJie Emu on the White-throated Fly- 

 eater {Gerygone albigularis) was of special interest to me, 

 because I can supply another record of this bird's presence in 

 Victoria. On the 30th August, 1909, a male bird visited Mary- 

 borough, Early in the morning it fluttered through an open 

 window on the second floor of a tailoring establishment in the 

 heart of the town. It remained for some time, dexterously 

 catching house-flies near the ceiling of the room. The visitor 

 eventually flew out of the window again, and disappeared. It 

 may be remembered that shortly before the date mentioned 

 there were heavy storms all over the country, and it was doubt- 

 less this stress of weather that drove the bird into a town. A 

 few days before the Fly-eater came, a Crested Shrike-Tit 

 {Falcujiailns frontatus) — a rare bird in town — was seen 

 fluttering in a local shop window. — A. H. Chisholm. Mary- 

 borough, 3/2/10, 



* As proved by Mr. Sid. W. Jackson — sec Emu, June, 1909 (Special Part). — Eus. 



