Bird-talk.



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dry bough—three small stumps of tail doing their best to imitate the

mature swing of the other two—makes a picture sufficient to com¬

pensate for many camera failures. Nor would it be correct to think

that the habits of the birds always savour of ferocity. In the course

of a day’s photography there is often a vexatious delay of half an

hour while two erring parents, huddled together on their favourite

branch, express their mutual affection by a multitude of looks and

gestures — “ spooning,” to use a time-worn expression. Very pretty,

no doubt, but not always satisfying to two parched and sun-baked

photographers watching the scorching summer day drawing to a

close, and seeing no prospect of their deserved reward.



BIRD-TALK.


By An Old Australian Bird-Lover.


The study of bird-life in freedom should be one of the subjects

taught, along with the need of bird protection, in every school. How

many pleasant moments those miss who give no thought or look

towards other things in Nature besides themselves. In the following

I give a few of my own observations. I could give more, but leave

it to other members to follow on.


Walking in the gully near my home, I came across a Honey-

sucker’s nest. Originally it had contained three young of their own

species and one baby Cuckoo. Two of their young lay dead below

the nest; the other, also dead, still clung to the rim of the nest,

where it had fastened when pitched out by the Cuckoo. It is a

common sight about here during spring to see a pair of tiny Wrens

feeding a Cuckoo baby four times and more the size of themselves.

It is a strange fact that birds do know these Cuckoos abuse their

nests, yet cannot distinguish their eggs or their offspring from a

Cuckoo’s. Another time my boy and myself were attracted by the

distressing calls of a Striated Wren, which actually led us towards

its nest, difficult to locate in the tall grass. We discovered by the

faintest chirping an unfeathered nestling being dragged along in a

dying condition by soldier ants. Following their trail, we found

the nest containing two young still alive but partly eaten by

these brutes. To complete the tragedy of this little family,



