D. Seth-Smith—Stray Notes



87



day when he suddenly dislodged him the Tragopan’s wattle was fully

displayed, so that the bird probably always showed this beauty on these

occasions; but as he was on my bird-keeper’s back, the latter could not

see what was going on. And all the time the Tragopan kept up a

clucking which would grow into a subdued version of the loud, weird

“ wa-a-a-ah ! ” which he utters in the courting season, opening his

mouth as wide as Tetrazzini when she achieves a top note !


(To be continued.)



STRAY NOTES


By D. Seth-Smith


On a recent visit to Clifton I had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Burgess’s

very fine collection of birds, and was greatly surprised to find such a

number of rarities. They are kept in a bird-room, which is fitted

up with numerous aviaries where many different species live together

on the best of terms. It would be extremely difficult to say which was

the rarest bird in this collection of rarities. There is a fine specimen of

the White-rumped Lory ( Eos fuscata), an equally good Black Lory

(Chalcopsittacus ater ), and a little further along one comes across three

examples of the Varied Lorikeet (Ptilosclera versicolor), a species which

I thought had not been imported since 1902, when the first arrival of

this species from North-west Australia made quite a sensation amongst

aviculturists, as some of the older members of this Society will

remember.


Starlings and Bower Birds.— There was one compartment full

of Glossy Starlings of several species, including Burchell’s, the Long¬

tailed, Green, and others of some of those smaller species which are

very difficult to identify without careful comparison. There were

Pied Starlings and Amethyst Starlings. A lovely specimen of the

Australian Cat-bird, in its rich green dress, shared a compartment with

a Satin Bower Bird, also clad in the green plumage of the female or

immature male.


Parrakeets and Others.— Of Parrakeets there were the Queen

Alexandra, Rock Poplar, Kings, Crimson-wings, Pennants, Adelaides,

Rosellas, Uvean, Barnards and Bauers, Golden-crowned and Jendaya



