152 
Stray Feathers 
The Emu 
L 1st Oct. 
wonderfully near “Belltrees,” while the Butcher-Bird, a near 
relative, had almost disappeared, though very plentiful thirty 
years ago. Curiously enough, the late Mr. E. J. Banfield en¬ 
countered a similar problem at Dunk Island. On that sanctuary, 
where the competition or interference of man was very slight, 
he found that some species of birds increased noticeably, while 
others (for no apparent reason) fell away alarmingly. I do not 
consider that this strange fluctuation is satisfactorily explained 
by the suggestion ( vide Emu , Vol. XXIII., p. 295), that various 
species have “disappeared into the great unpeopled spaces of this 
sparsely-populated continent.” The point has been made pre¬ 
viously, and it has not been greatly strengthened by the finding 
of a few “lost” birds here and there. C. H. Jerrard’s discovery 
of the Paradise Parrot only slightly eased the tension in regard 
to this rare bird. And the shooting of a solitary Turquoise 
Parrot in South Queensland (not New South Wales) by the 
Wilkins expedition, certainly does not indicate that numbers of 
these birds exist. Yet it is only a generation ago that the Tur¬ 
quoise and Paradise Parrots were quite plentiful. — A. H. 
Chisholm, C.F.A.O.U., Sydney. 
* * * 
Tasmanian Migrants in Summer of 1923-4.—Only two small 
parties of Spinetail Swifts ( Hirundapus caudacuta) were noted 
on the N.W. coast this summer; very different from the many 
hundreds, and even thousands, which used to appear at migrating 
time twenty years ago! The first were seen on the afternoon 
of 2nd March, 1924, after a thunderstorm in the morning, accom¬ 
panied by heavy rain; half a dozen of the birds went from west 
to east, singly, not flying together; they were making a direct 
course, not feeding. The weather had cleared somewhat, but 
the sky was still partly overcast, and the wind was light northerly. 
On 19th March a small number was seen from Ulverstone Show- 
ground, twelve miles west of Devonport; they were coming from 
the east, and were flying low; wind S.W.; weather fine. The wind 
had been boisterous during the night and early morning. Welcome 
Swallows ( Hirundo neoxena') , Wood-Swallows ( Artamus cyan - 
opterus), and Pipits ( Anthus australis') all seemed to leave about 
21st April, just previous to which date we had some windy, cold 
days. At the same date, and since, small parties of Summer- 
birds ( Graucalus novce-hollandice) have been working along from 
eastward and passing westward in leisurely fashion, sitting about 
in trees and on fences, and taking such insect food as they could 
find. At the beginning of the 4th week of April I found the 
body of a male Blue-winged Parrot ( Neophema chrysostoma, 
apparently), with the head taken clean off, lying under the 
electric wires by the roadside; it appeared to have flown violently 
against the wire while migrating by night, as the body was quite 
fresh when found in the early morning. —H. Stuart Dove, 
F.Z.S., W. Devonport, Tas. 
