^°';g^^"-] Stray Feathers. lOI 



till the second party of birds forced him down again. Had 

 there been but one or two birds attacking, the fox would have 

 no doubt escaped easily, but five had a decided advantage over 

 him, for when two birds struck at him together the other three 

 were ready to dart down on the ascension of the first two. 

 Every bird struck at the animal's head, but as the fox kept this 

 flat on the ground, he was not harmed. This " duck and run " 

 procedure was kept up for the space of some 300 yards, when 

 Reynard reached a sanctuary in the shape of a clump of thistles. 

 The disappointed Crows circled round for a while, cawed dis- 

 mally at the landscape, and departed. 



Crow V. Rabbit. — This is not the first time I have witnessed 

 such an exhibition of pugnacity on the part of the Crow. A few 

 months ago I saw a somewhat similar chase with a rabbit as 

 central figure. 



The Usefulness of the Crow. — These two animals, the fox 

 and rabbit, are the two principal pests of the farmers here- 

 abouts, and if the Crow (or any other bird) could be proved to 

 be instrumental in diminishing their rapidly increasing numbers 

 the bird would be far more favourably looked upon than it is 

 just at present.— A. A. Chisholm. Maryborough, Vict. 



Among Bristle-Birds. — November has many attractions in 

 the field. Taking advantage of a public holiday early in the 

 month, two of us wheeled away from Geelong to the south coast 

 outside Port Phillip, covering the distance in about three hours 

 against as stiff an ocean breeze as one cares to face on the cj^cle. 

 Thence south-west we followed the coast down toward Cape 

 Otway. Evening was coming on, the wind was rising, with 

 every promise of a stormy night, and on we hurried, skirting 

 the steep cliffs, anxious to find suitable cover for the night. 

 Necessarily we travelled " light," having a little plain fare and 

 a rug apiece, ready even to do without water in this man- 

 forsaken tract, that we might observe in its curious home the 

 Bristle-Bird (Sphenura broadbenti). Leaving the track at the 

 top of a spur, we made down to the coast, a mile distant, and 

 there met some thick brakes of tea-tree just as the last light of 

 evening waned, but not too late to hear a welcome loud- 

 voiced warble of a Bristle-Bird not far away. 



The gale increased, the sea lashed on the long line of reef off 

 shore, where the Inverlochy had perished some months pre- 

 viously, and the waves moaned on the beach, where they had 

 cast up in all odd corners the wooden wreckage of the vessel. 

 In the thickest part of the tea-tree we passed the night. By the 

 side of a roaring fire, fed from the wreckage on the beach, we 

 lay down to rest, though not to sleep much, for we were alter- 



