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EDWARDS, Birds of a NS.U'. Garden f The Emu 
L April 
arrival, and noted its regular occurrence between the 5 th and 
10 th October. Our little Pipit too (Antlius australis ), which 
seems so very averse from a flight of any length when here, 
clears off each autumn on some mysterious journey, perhaps 
to Central or North-west Australia. 
The Black Maliirus . — When walking along the bank of the 
Mersey to Latrobe on the 28 th January just past, I noted a male 
Malums longicaudus of the black variety mentioned by Miss J. 
A. Fletcher in her paper read at the 1923 Conference. The 
wings appeared black instead of grey, and the parts of the 
plumage which usually look blue-black in a good light, seemed 
in this case jet black. The bird had a beakful of small white 
grubs, so was still feeding young, although so late in the season; 
lie flew across a paddock of long grass to a belt of scrub on the 
further side, and as 1 was on the way to attend a public func¬ 
tion I did not follow. An occasional male of this melanistic 
variety has been noted during my residence here, and in widely- 
separated parts of the district; so that there are evidently several 
about. It is possible that, if a male of the ordinary colouring 
should survive a certain number of years, his plumage 
would assume these darker tints as a final phase.- 
Birds of a New South Wales Garden 
By H. Y. EDWARDS, R.A.O.U., “Old Rectory,” Bega, N.S.W. 
If they are treated as welcome visitors, or at any rate not 
seriously interfered with or scared away, the number of different 
birds which constantly appear in gardens and other enclosed 
spaces around houses in the country is often astonishing. In 
my case the areas enclosed amount to about two acres—about 
two-thirds being pasture land studded with native and orna¬ 
mental trees — pines, laurels, elms, and oaks chiefly, and the re¬ 
mainder, flower and vegetable garden. The holding is situated 
on the far South Coast of New South Wales — quite in the open 
and close to a large town. The climate on the whole is temperate, 
although at times the extremes of heat and cold are considerable. 
Silver-eyes are frequent visitors, arriving in numbers about 
January, when fruit is ripening, but a few of these birds are 
usually to be seen during the winter. These birds do good work 
in ridding fruit trees of scale insects and other harmful kinds. 
Silver-eyes, however, take their toll of soft, ripe fruits, but this 
is partly to slake their thirst, and no one should grudge a 
useful insectivorous bird its due reward. Mulberries, grapes, 
peaches and apricots when dead ripe are especial favourites of 
the little yellowish-green birds. The delicate cup-nest, with its 
two pretty pale-blue eggs, is often swung from the twig of a 
fruit tree, and usually is not discovered until the leaves fall. It 
is as a rule well hidden, slender in build, and made of incon¬ 
spicuous material. 
