Vol. VIII. 



1909 



J Stray Feathers. 153 



differed somewhat from the usual type, being- heavily banded 

 with spots round the larger end. Another nest, containing two 

 eggs, was found in the centre of a clump of band-grass, some 6 

 inches from the ground. — Frank M. Littler. Launceston, 



28/11/08. 



* * * 



Tasmanian Notes.— My friend, Mr. H. C. Thompson, of 

 Launceston, has sent the following notes made in the brief 

 intervals of a busy life : — ■ 



" The Scarlet-breasted Robin [Petnvca leggii) had three eggs on 

 6th September, and on nth September a Flame-breasted Robin 

 {P. phivnkea) was sitting on three eggs in her nest built in 

 Owen's timber yard on the Tamar, amid all the whirr of 

 machinery and rending of logs. Probably the same pair built last 

 spring on a rafter in a pole-shed situated in the Council's yard, 

 Launceston, so they are not averse to the society of the working- 

 man. Two Brown-tails' {AcantJiiza diemenensis) nests and several 

 Yellow-tails' (// cJirysorrhoa),\\\'Ci\ eggs, were found at beginning 

 of September. In a few reeds in the Depot grounds were two 

 pairs of Grass-Birds {Megaliirus grainineus), also a fine pair of 

 Bald- Coots {Porphyno vieIano7iotus) about the same place. The 

 latter were very tame ; one was resting on some bent reeds only 

 a few yards from me, preening its feathers and taking no notice 

 of me, not even when I stood up and got as close as the water 

 would permit. When I projected a small missile into the water 

 near him he flew very clumsily, with the legs hanging straight 

 down, giving him an awkward appearance on the wing." In a 

 letter dated ist November Mr. Thompson mentions that a third 

 Coot had joined these two, one of which was sitting on five eggs, 

 so it is evidently a case of a menage a trois, one of those mys- 

 terious associations of three individuals which have been observed 

 in the " old country " in several species, and discussed in the 

 nature journals without eliciting any very satisfactory explana- 

 tion. " The Reed-Warblers {Acrocephalus australis) arrived at the 

 North Esk about the middle of September. Several Yellow- 

 throated Honey-eaters' {Ptilotis flavigidaris) nests were found 

 built close to the ground in saggs on the side of a tree-clad hill, 

 three of them having eggs by the z)th October. Some of the 

 Robins had fledged young about the same time. Bronze-Cuckoos 

 {Chalcococcyx plagosus) were making their voices heard ; and 

 both the Grey-tailed Thickhead {PachycepJiala glaucura) and the 

 Spinebill {AcnntJwrJiynclins tenuirostris) were sitting. No 

 Shining Fycatchers {^PiesorJiyncJius nitidus) had been seen by 

 that date, although one or two pairs are generally located near 

 Launceston each spring." On i8th October Mr. Thompson and 

 his son left home at 5.30 a.m. and went down the Tamar in a 

 small boat, the wind southerly and cold until the sun got well up. 

 At 8 a.m. they were at Tamar Island, and breakfasted in the 



