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but about 150 miles away from where this farmer lived. I had a feeling .

that this must be a Scarlet so took a holiday and motored over, about

400 miles from Adelaide. On arrival at the farm it was dark, but we i

straight away got a lantern and were taken to a small aviary on the

front verandah. My delight, when I saw it was a hen Scarlet, can be

imagined. I asked how the bird was caught, and was told that one day

a Hawk was seen to catch this bird, and on running over to where

the bird had fallen it was found to be injured and very exhausted ; it

was taken inside and warmed. It was far too weak to feed, so they

mixed up granose, oatmeal and honey, with hot milk and hand-fed it.

Gradually an improvement was shown, and after a fortnight it had

recovered. While this bird was convalescent it was put out on the

verandah and the cock used to fly right down to the cage and, strange

to say, no attempt was made to capture him. By the time we arrived

the cock was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately I was able to secure

the hen bird and she is now in perfect health.


During the trip, which lasted a fortnight, we travelled 1,500 miles,

chiefly over unmade bush tracks in sparsely populated areas, but no

other Scarlet-breasts were seen.



REVIEW


HANDLIST TO THE BIEDS OF SAMOA


This handlist has been prepared by Dr. John S. Armstrong for

the use of residents and visitors to the beautiful Samoan Islands in the

hope that it will enable them to recognize and record the habits of this

very interesting fauna before the march of time and progress has

denuded the hills and bush, with the inevitable result of destruction

of the bird-life.


The islanders of Samoa have from time immemorial been in the

habit of taming birds and the first discoverers of the islands found

“ their houses full of Wood-pigeons ”. The Samoans, we read, still

keep birds in captivity, but not to anything like the extent that was

the case when the islands were discovered.


There are some half-dozen species of Pigeons or Doves on the

islands, including the remarkable Tooth-billed Pigeon ( Didunculus )



