Vol. VI 



■J Stray Feathers. 105 



language), and that the shrub appears to be a variety of EncalvpHis 

 obcordata. Whoever is correct, there is no doubt that the thickets 

 composed of it are " happy hunting grounds " for ornithologists. 

 Last week I secured in that growth specimens of M alums pulcher- 

 rinrits and of an Emu-Wren (Stipitiiriis malachurus).* — Tom 

 Carter. Wensleydale, Broome Hill (W.A.), 31/8/08. 



From Magazines, &c. 



"A Night With the Birds on Lawrence Rocks " is the 

 account of a romantic outing by Mr. A. H. E. Mattingley, 

 C.M.Z.S., which appeared in T/ie Victorian Naturalist for May, 

 vol. XXV., pp. 12-24. Lawrence Rocks are situated at the 

 entrance of Portland Bay, Victoria, and are the breeding-places 

 chiefly of Gannets, Cormorants, Petrels, and Penguins. Mr. 

 Mattingley took his excursion last Christmas, when he found 

 the majority of the birds with downy young. The article is 

 accompanied by reproductions from excellent photographs, 

 namely : — " Gannet {Sula serrator) Rookery," showing a con- 

 gregation of about 400 birds, with some on the wing, and " Dove- 

 Petrel {Prion desolatus (?) ) and young," General readers, as 

 well as naturalists, will enjoy Mr. Mattingley's very descriptive 

 and entertaining article. 



Birds of Inkerman (N.Q.) — An article, interesting to 

 Australian ornithological students, by Mr. Collingwood Ingram, 

 F.Z.S., appears in the July (1908) Ibis, entitled "The Birds of 

 Inkerman Station, North Queensland." The collection contains 

 93 species, including two new to science — namely, Ncositta 

 niagnirostris and Sphecotheres stalkeri. 



Inkerman is situated approximately 50 miles south-west of 

 Townsville and about ten miles from the Burdekin River, and is 

 described as "covered with an open forest, but in many places 

 the gum-trees are very thinly scattered over the ground. The 

 two commonest species, and those that give character to the 

 landscape, are the Moreton Bay ash and the blood-wood ; the 

 former being by far the most numerous. But here and there are 

 also trees of other kinds — pandanus, leichhardt, acacia, bottle- 

 tree, and others ; although, of course, the typical Eticalypti dAwdiys 

 predominate. Situated at wide intervals over nearly the 

 whole of the station are narrow sheets of water — ' lagoons,' as 

 they are locally termed. These are often deep and sunk between 

 steep banks, and not a few are thickly grown with blue water- 

 lilies or with the more luxuriant lotus-lily." 



* The Western Australian form of the Emu- Wren differs from the eastern bird by the 

 general upper surface being lighter coloured (greyish instead of brownish), and by the 

 width of eacli curious tail-feather being only about half the width of those of the 

 eastern examples. — A.J.C. 



