144 
Stray Feathers. 
Does the female Emu ever IxNcubate ? At Anlaby, the 
beautiful estate and home of Mr. Henry Button, a small paddock, 
adjoining the gardens, is set apart as a home for deer, kangaroo, 
and Emu. This season (1901) the female Emu made a nest in 
a secluded corner amongst the gum trees, and deposited there 
five eggs, upon which she sat contentedly for nine weeks. 
During this time she was fed daily by one of the gardeners, and 
in due season marched off with three young birds. They all 
kept by themselves, aloof from the other birds. The two eggs 
that proved to be infertile have had small punctures made in them, 
and will be taken by Mr. Dutton to England as a curiosity from 
his Australian home. 
Of course, I have always heard that the male Emu helped in 
sitting on the eggs, &c., but not entirely. On my old wild run 
in Port Lincoln they were very plentiful at certain seasons ; but 
a few times that I actually saw the bird run off the nest it was 
a female. In this case, the gardener says that the female bird 
kept to the nest all through the sitting, and walked off with the 
young ones, and they kept entirely together for some weeks, 
until the other big birds, male and female, gradually joined them; 
and one day he pointed out to me the Emu with her brood, and 
it was a female bird. Many a time, when mustering sheep on 
wild heathy hills, we have seen a mob of Emu 5 to 17 in 
number. On slipping off our horses, and whistling plaintively, 
the birds would come around us, full of curiosity, within a few 
feet. They are such noble, majestic birds, so harmless, and 
reminding one of the Arabian Desert, not forgetting the wonder- 
ful and rather sad expression of their eye, that it always seemed 
to me a wicked and cursed thing to kill them. — Henry Hol- 
ROYD. Tarlee, S.A. 
* * * 
A Rookery of Nutmeg Pigeons {Carpophaga spilorrhoa?) 
— Being informed that pigeons were plentiful along the Seymour 
River, a few miles north of the Herbert, and also that they were 
supposed to breed in the mangroves at the mouth of the river 
and in Hinchinbrook Channel, I availed myself of the first 
opportunity which presented itself of paying them a visit. On 
28th December last I went down the Seymour by boat, 
arriving near the mouth late in the afternoon. Pigeons were 
just beginning to arrive in small flocks from their feeding 
grounds up the river, but later on, as sunset approached, they 
appeared literally in hundreds, all making for the islands in the 
mouth of the river. We accordingly headed for the largest 
island, and moored our boat close in shore for the night, intend- 
ing to investigate the birds early in the morning. By this time 
the clamour of the roosting Pigeons was tremendous, and was 
added to by the notes of countless small birds, continuing for 
