Notices of New Books, etc.



75



these birds were very difficult to approach, “ we went towards

them very carefully, keeping ourselves hidden in the tussocky

grass and frequently crawling along to avoid being seen. When

sufficiently close we took our first photo., and we did so by

slowly raising the camera to the level of the grass, all set, and

then letting our shutter go from our place of concealment. We

then remembered that the Albatross could not well rise from the

level ground, so approaching closer with less care took another

snap shot, and as the birds still did not rise, we boldly walked up to

one, and found that they practically took no notice of us.” Some

extremely good photographs are given, illustrating the Albatross

colony and the birds sitting on their nests, feeding their young

and so forth.


One other extract, perhaps of more interest to avicul-

turists, must suffice. In the chapter headed “ Mallacoota Inlet,”

the author writes : “ In one of the gullies we heard a Lyre Bird

on its slight mound, mimicking the various birds of the bush,

even the Laughing Jackass, the Grey Crow Shrike, Gang-gang

Cockatoo, &c. But what struck us as most curious was its

imitating the whining and yelping of a puppy ; and we afterwards

heard that some miners who were camped near by, used to

leave a puppy fastened up at their tent while they were away.

We also heard the bird uttering a note something like the sound

produced by a cross-cut saw, and as one had worked in the

neighbourhood, that is probably what it was ; it only shows what

wonderful power of mimickry these interesting birds have.


“We frequently heard the Satin Bower Birds in the dense

scrub and were fortunate in finding one of their bowers built in a

pretty situation and surrounded with ferns. These birds when in

their greenish costume are far from shy, but when the males don

their beautiful dark blue satin livery in their seventh year, they at

once seem to realise that they are conspicuous and always keep as

much out of sight as possible ; but for all that they evidently soon

fall a prey to the watchful Hawk, as it is a rare thing to see more

than one blue male in a flock of these birds. It is curious watching

their antics as they are playing round their bower, hopping about

with mincing steps and drooping their wings at the same time,

picking up sticks or shells and dropping them again in front of



