280 stray Feathers. [,sf April 



somewhat lengthy explanation for fear there may be some 

 interested member who has not access to Mr. Mathews' work. 

 The two species I am most interested in are B. n. novcB-hollandicB 

 and B. n. gunni. This note is intended to be but a brief record of 

 preliminary observations that I have made with a view to 

 investigating the validity or otherwise of the two birds now ranked 

 as a species and a sub-species respectively to remain as such. I 

 have been able to examine a small series of skins of birds taken 

 off the northern coast of Tasmania, and also actual live birds 

 captured when young on different islands in Bass Strait. Accord- 

 ing to the illustrations, B. n. gunni shows much more white than 

 B. n. novcB-hollandicB, the 3rd and 4th primaries being almost 

 wholly white. Broadly speaking, my preliminary survey shows 

 that some birds closely resemble gunni, while others approximate 

 to novce-hollandicB, while again there are individuals that are 

 partially one and partially the other. I refrain, for obvious 

 reasons, from detailing the result of my observations at this 

 stage. I hope at a later date to have something definite to 

 communicate on the, to me, interesting question. Mr. Mathews 

 suggests that perhaps the Tasmanian skins he handled were from 

 the Great Lake. I have not yet examined skins from that locality, 

 so cannot comment on them. — Frank M. Littler. Launceston, 



3/13/13. 



* * * 



Cuckoo Notes. — During the last four months of 1912 Cuckoos 

 were very numerous throughout Victoria, and from all quarters 

 came the monotonous and melancholy calls of the different species. 

 North of Lake Tyrrell, in the Mallee coufttry, in September, 

 Messrs. F. E. Howe, T. H. Tregellas, and I noticed the Pallid 

 [Cuculiis pallidus). Fan-tailed {Cacomantis flahellijormis). Bronze 

 [Chalcococcyx plagosus). Narrow-billed Bronze (C. basalis), and 

 Black-eared {Mesocalius palliolatus) Cuckoos, and saw an egg of 

 the Fan-tailed species in a nest of the Chestnut-rumped Ground- 

 Wren {Hylacola pyrrhopygia), and eggs of the Narrow-billed 

 Bronze-Cuckoo in nests of the Chestnut-rumped Ground-Wren 

 and Tawny-crowned Honey-eater {Glycyphila fidvifrons). At 

 Ringwood most of my excursions were in company with Messrs. 

 Howe and A. C. Stone. We observed that of the above-mentioned 

 species of Cuckoos only the Black-eared was missing, but the 

 Square-tailed (C. variolosus) was there in addition. Throughout 

 October and November it was an unusual thing to find a nest of 

 certain species of birds which did not contain a Cuckoo's egg. 

 For the first time during an experience extending over several 

 years, I found eggs of the Square-tailed Cuckoo. Almost every 

 nest of the Scarlet-breasted Robin {Petroeca leggii) contained an 

 egg of the Square-tailed Cuckoo or of the Narrow-billed Bronze- 

 Cuckoo. Five cases of the former were recorded, and the same 

 number of the latter. In the cases of the Square-tailed Cuckoo, 

 one nest held an egg of the Robin, another two eggs of the Robin, 

 a third three eggs of the Robin, and a fourth two young Robins ; 



