36 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



and this will happen where the dead animal could not be seen from 

 any point twenty yards off, which to my mind is a proof that they 

 are guided by scent, and not by sight. 



In the north of Scotland, we have known the Golden Eagle to 

 live considerably over 100 years. In olden times the chieftains in 

 the highlands of that country wore three Eagles' feathers in their 

 highland bonnets, (which said head-pieces did not the least resemble 

 the "Tarn O'Shanter's" now so common in Victoria), those beneath 

 the rank of chieftan one, while others wore the Heron's plume, or 

 sprigs of white heather, &c., according to the class they belonged 

 to. This Eagle when seen soaring over the tops of the rocky crags 

 on the highland mountains, seems to be the bird that alone could 

 add to their romantic beauty, and caused that true poet of nature, 

 Andrew Park, to say in his lines thereon, 



"I have trod merry England, and dwelt on its charms; 

 I have wandered through Erin, the gem of the sea; 



But the Highlands alone, the true Scottish heart warms, 

 For her heather is blooming, her eagles are free." 



NOTES ON THE HABITS OF NATIVE BIRDS. 



By I. Batey, Sunbury. 



(Bead before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, Jan. 18th, 1886) 



Part 2. Cockatoos and Magpies. 



(Concluded.) 



Some people, with apparently good grounds, would question how it 

 could be possible for birds to recognise one of their own species as a 

 stranger. I freely assert that magpies at least can do so, but, as we 

 are comparatively speaking just entering on the vista of animated 

 nature, I cannot explain "the how." This much, I know, that 

 the smallest of our parrakeets will miss their mates in a few short 

 seconds of time. If fifty or more of these diminutive creatures 

 are in a tree, and one or more falls to your fire, the remainder, 

 unlike the large parrakeet, take instant flight. Very often, before 

 they have flown a hundred yards, according to the number slain 

 there is a proportionate return of survivors to the fatal tree. These 

 birds wheel out of the main flock, as it is in full flight. Tliis, I 

 regard as simply marvellous, that birds under the impulse of 

 fear, caused by the loud discharge of the gun, should not lose their 

 gift of identification, which their almost instant return to the 

 scene of the disaster, proves they possess in a very high degree. The 

 returned birds will remain in the tree for hours, uttering their plaintive 

 '' cree crees." 



