tod BIRDS IN MY GARDEN. 



Honey-eating parrots visit me when figs are ripe, and make plenty of noise right at my office 

 windows. Three species have been noted, viz.. Blue Mountain, Musk and Little Lorikeets ; the last 

 named I have seen killed with sticks while feeding in my fig trees. 



The common Sulphur-crested Cockatoo is very numerous in the district, and odd ones are seen 

 close to the house. Both the Yellow and Red Tailed Black Cockatoos have been noted in the 

 eucalyptus trees near the garden. 



During severe droughts in the interior both Cockatoo Parrots and Budgerygars {Cahpsittacus 

 novcehoUandiae and Melopsittacus undulatus) have visited the garden. 



Rosellas and Red-rumped Parrakeets are very common, both breeding in artificial nesting boxes 

 placed in some of the higher trees. While I write six full-plumaged Lories (Platycercus elegmis) are 

 in a tree near by. 



A Podargus or Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides), Little Nightjar (Aegotheles novahollandiae), 

 Dollar Bird [Eurystomus pacificus), and a Nightjar, which I suppose to be Eurostopus albigularis, are 

 occasional visitors. The Jackass (Dacelo gigas) is always with us, his ridiculous laugh being one of 

 the first bird notes heard in the morning and last in the evening. 



Apropos, the term " Jackass to Jackass " is an old-fashioned way of expressing a long day's work 

 in the bush. Master Jack is not above making a mouthful of smaller birds, nestling Wood Swallows 

 being considered a special dainty. 



Two other Kingfishers, the Sacred and Red-rumped, visit us every summer, the first named 

 breeding in an artificial nesting place. 



Last summer a pair of Pardalotes (P. ornatus) hatched young in one of my nesting spouts, but 

 had no further luck ; a Sacred Kingfisher put in a claim, destroying nest and young, and appropriating 

 the hole for itself. 



The beautiful Bee Eater (Merops ornatus) is a regular visitor. No less than seven cuckoos have 

 been seen in the garden, five of them breeding. I found the unusual number of three eggs of the 

 Pallid Cuckoo (Cuculus inornatus) in a Honey Eater's nest. 



The Black-eared Cuckoo (Misocalius palliolatus) is seen occasionally, and its egg of a dark 

 chocolate colour has been taken in the locality. 



The Channel-bill Cuckoo (Scythrops novae-hollandiae) is fond of figs, my trees attracting them 

 occasionally. Sometimes called the " Rain " or " Storm Bird," from the fact of its being unusually 

 noisy during stormy weather, it frequently calls at night, also when flying over from range to range. 



Four of the Swallow family are plentiful, the latest comer being the Black and White (Cheramceca 

 leucoslernum). It turned up some ten years ago for the first time, and is now quite common ; it is 

 a curious instance of what was supposed to be an inland bird moving into the eastern district. Like 

 others of the family, it is fond of perching on the telephone wires. 



Two Cuckoo Shrikes [Coracina robusta and C. mentalis), the first named a resident, are in evidence, 

 /as is also Lalage tricolor — all useful birds, but Coracina robusta is rather given to fruit-eating ; it nests 

 in the garden. One species of Babbler (Pomatorhinus frivolus), and the Chough (Corcorax melanor- 

 hamphus), both noisy birds, visit us in fair-sized companies, and have been known to breed, though 

 they prefer the bush. 



One Wren {Malurus cyanochlamys) only has been noted, some years in considerable numbers. 

 They breed close to my office, the male being a pugnacious little chap, having great fights with his 

 own reflection in the glass of the windows. A Grallina once played the same game, and had to be shot 

 because it made such a mess of the windows. 



Of Wood Swallows, Artamus tenebrosus is a resident, while A. superciliosus and A. personatus arrive 

 in swarms when the summer inland is dry. For some time I was sceptical about the sordid Wood 



