Vol. XIV, 

 191S 



J Stray Feathers. 17*5 



agricultural produce of northern New South Wales, and the 

 passenger traffic of the whole of the North. In " Nests and Eggs 

 of Birds Found Breeding in Austraha and Tasmania"* appears a 

 very interesting note by Mr. T. P. Austin, of Cohborah. He 

 describes a visit to the breeding-place of the Night-Heron in Port 

 Stephens. In a direct hne Maitland and Port Stephens are not 

 more than 30 miles apart, so that it is possible that the birds I saw 

 form part of the Heronry in question. — H. L. White. Belltrees, 

 Scone, N.S.W., 13/12/14. 



Birds and the Camera. — In the course of the present (1914) 

 nesting season in Victoria, I was fortunate in securing a series 

 of photographs of the Mistletoe-Bird {Dicceum hirundinaceum) 

 and the Buff-tailed Tit- Warbler [Acanthiza regiiloides). Early in 

 October Messrs. S. Lawrence and R. T. Littlejohns informed me 

 that they had located the nest of a pair of Mistletoe-Birds, 

 suspended in a eucalypt sapling growing on a hill slope at Ferntree 

 Gully, Dandenong Ranges. In company we visited the spot on a 

 warm, sunny day, and spent several hours there, observing the birds 

 and taking photographs. The nest, which contained two young 

 birds about four days old, was less than 10 feet from the ground. 

 Some old fence-rails were used to form a rough platform, and a 

 camera was fixed close to the nest. After focussing and making 

 everything ready for an exposure, I retired, and at the end of 

 30 feet of rubber tubing awaited the return of the birds, which had 

 been moving about restlessly among the foliage of trees adjacent 

 to the sapling. Nearly 20 minutes passed before one of the 

 birds ventured to approach the nest. It was the female. She 

 flew to the sapHng, above the nest, peered at the camera, which 

 evidently was regarded with some fear, and showed signs of 

 indecision. But soon mother-love vanquished fear, and the 

 dainty bird flew to the nest. Clinging to the outer wall, with her 

 tail braced against it, she thrust her head inside, and began to 

 cleanse the nursery. The camera shutter clicked, and away flew 

 the bird to a tree some dozen yards distant. Within ten minutes 

 she was back again, and this time brought food. Her actions, 

 too, were less fearful, though she flew when another plate was 

 exposed. In the course of an hour the female made many visits 

 to the nest. Once the male alighted in the sapling, carrying food 

 in his bill, but declined to come to the nest. A week later my 

 companions, who were also successful with their camera on the first 

 occasion, spent an afternoon on the hill slope, and secured photo- 

 graphs of the male bird, and of the female feeding the young, 

 which were out in the world. The mother bird even alighted 

 on an outstretched hand, on which a fledgeling was perched. 



It was while spending a brief holiday at " The Bungalow," 

 Paradise, near Gembrook, in November, that I found the nest 



* "Nests and Eggs," North, vol. iv. , pp. 35, 36. 



