Page:The Emu volume 3.djvu/130



writing my last paper (see page 49) we have passed through a very severe winter, and the native birds have had a trying time. The Dusky Robins (Petrœca vittata) and the Long-tailed Wrens (Malurus gouldi) were in particular very tame, and very attentive if any digging operations were going on. I tried hard to get them to take worms and grubs from the hand. Though they would hop to within a few inches of the hand, and the worms would wriggle most invitingly, the birds were afraid. As soon as the worms were put on my boot they would snap them up at once. If the worm was an extra long one, they would fly to a post or log and with a very smart turn get it endways on and so swallow it.

Early in July I had a dead female Scarlet-breasted Robin (Petrœca leggii) brought to me. The tiny creature had evidently died from starvation, as her poor little body was pitifully thin. The Flame-breasted Robins (P. phœnicea) left our district near the end of April, and it was not until the 31st July that I noticed them about again. Evidently they left to take their winter journey to Victoria or elsewhere.

This year, though the autumn was very mild, the Cuckoos did not return to pay their usual fortnightly visit in April. Perhaps some intuition warned them that the coming winter was to be very severe.

Though I gave prominence to the Black Crow-Shrikes (Strepera fuliginosa) in my last paper, it may not be out of place in this one to mention that at present they are very attentive to the early sowing of peas in the gardens, and have the knack of following a row right down and not missing a pea. They also find their way into sheds where apples are stored, and as I write I can hear a noisy flock on a recently sown oat-field.

In our scrub-covered gullies the little Brown Scrub-Wren (Sericornis humilis) flits about. 1 have found its old nests two or three times. The Yellow-rumped Tits (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa)—merry little creatures—are very numerous; so also are their cousins, the Tasmanian Tits or Browntails (Acanthiza dicmenensis). These latter are comparatively tame, and not afraid of mankind. I found one of their nests made in a fallen leafy branch. Both birds were busily working at it on one of the last days in August. I was not able to look at the nest again till the end of September, when the bird was sitting on three eggs. Evidently they do not hurry their building operations.

The Spotted Owls (Ninox maculata) are very plentiful amongst these hills, and on moonlight evenings may often be seen perched on the ridges of barns or on stumps and fences. Mice, I presume, attract them to the barns. An incident of one of these Owls returning to captivity came under my notice recently. The bird