Vol. XII, 

 19J3 



1 Stray Feathers. 1 95 



greys, on a small piece of grass ground (about one-eighth of an acre). 

 26th June. — Male Flame-breasts in red, with a number of greys 

 of same species, perched on electric wires over the Don road, 

 inside the town boundary of Devonport. lyth July. — A pair of 

 Scarlet-breasts perched on the same wires. 18th July. — ^A number 

 of Flame-breasts, both coloured and plain, feeding in a ploughed 

 paddock, with several Chats and a Pipit. One of the Flame- 

 breasts very tame, feeding within a yard or two of where I stood. 

 In the afternoon a party of five Pipits feeding together in a grass 

 paddock off the Don road, so that several of these migrants 

 have stayed with us. 21st July. — ^A number of beautiful Flame- 

 breasts, with several greys, flying from stump to stump, and on 

 the fences of a paddock with crop of young green stuff ; the breasts 

 of the full-plumaged males seem to glow as they sit on stumps 

 or boulders, facing the afternoon sun. 2^th July. — ^A male 

 Scarlet-breast was singing his short strain near the Don road. 

 More Flames seen to-day. (Two days afterwards more of the 

 latter were noticed in a paddock, where also there were numbers 

 of Chats.) 2gth July. — A pair of Flame-breasts observed on the 

 Parade, apparently mated, ^oth July. — Heard a song which was 

 almost certainly that of P. phcenicea ; singer not actually sighted. 

 $th August. — Many Flame-breasts observed in a newly-ploughed 

 paddock ; some of these in grey plumage (probably the males of 

 last spring) singing plaintively while perched on stumps. A pair 

 of Pipits in same paddock. T^th August. — K pair of Flame- 

 breasts, the male in red, chasing each other through the air ; other 

 pairs in the vicinity." It will thus be seen that this beautiful 

 Robin is with us in numbers all through the winter, as well as his 

 congener, the Scarlet-breast ; in fact, the former far outnumbers 

 the latter in this district in the cold season. ^H. Stuart Dove. 

 West Devonport (Tas.), 22/8/12. 



Bird-Migration. — When travelling by steamer from Brisbane 

 to Darwin, during the third week in October, a few migratory 

 birds were noted. When passing along the inside of the Great 

 Barrier Reef, from Townsville to Thursday Island, Nutmeg- 

 Pigeons {Myristicivora spilorrhoa) were seen flying southwards on 

 their way from New Guinea. The number in one company was 

 generally small, from one pair of birds to possibly a dozen or 

 two. The birds flew fast and straight, just above water level. 

 They were silent, and were easily distinguishable at a distance. 

 The large majority of birds seem to make the coast-line of Aus- 

 tralia near Thursday Island, and do not go further south than 

 the low-lying coral islands of the Barrier Reef, and usually not 

 as far as the southernmost ones. Other companies make their 

 landfall at different points along the northern coast, but not 

 usually as far as North- Western Australia. To estimate the number 

 of these birds which annually migrate from New Guinea to 

 Northern Australia is difficult. The Nutmeg-Pigeons usually 



