BIRDS.

Small Birds and the Fruit Crops.-The following letters, addressed to the Editor of The Standard,' appeared in that journal on April 14th:"Allow me to give a head gardener's experience of small birds in fruit gardens. Taking charge here twelve years ago, orders were given that no birds' nests were to be taken, nor the eggs destroyed, and no birds to be killed except the Bullfinch. Consequently I began to provide protecting materials, such as wire pea-guards, and fish-netting. The pea-guards, purchased twelve years ago, are as sound now as when bought, and likely to wear a lifetime. The first cost seems rather a drawback; but they are essential to the kitchengarden crops, to protect the peas, and also the cabbage-lettuce, radishes, and a host of small seeds. These wire-guards are constantly in use during the spring and summer months for the protection of all seeds against the small birds, and I am happy to say they answer the purpose well. Garden-netting is used for strawberries and currants (red and white), also for ripe gooseberries. The buds of these small fruits are protected by dusting the small or large bushes with lime and soot, when the trees are damp enough to allow it to stick to the branches, just before or after Christmas, or during the month of January. Large standard plum trees should have powdered lime thrown over the heads on a foggy morning every year, either in December or January. It is a mistake to think the first rain will wash the lime off the trees. I do not observe any increase of our feathered songsters here with all our protection. Nature seems to provide her own way of limiting the numbers of small birds. I may say we have a man on Sunday duty. During the nesting season we take the precaution not to have the birds' nests interfered with, if possible. We are surrounded by large forest trees, and also woods here and there round the park, and have many small birds' nests in the fruit trees in the kitchen garden. Yet we have had an abundance of hardy fruit every year, and have escaped, or nearly so, from the attacks of caterpillars, and also the maggots in the apple trees, these last few years-scourges which have been so prevalent all over the country. I attribute this to keeping the orchard apple trees clean by liming, both old and young are kept clean,—and we must not forget the help we receive from the small birds. We have a great wealth of blossom at the present time on the wall trees, and a great promise of apple and cherry to come in the orchard.-ROBERT SMITH, one of the Committee of the British Fruit Growers' Association (Yalding, Kent)."

"I have read with much interest the very conflicting opinions of your correspondents on the subject of the destructiveness of small birds. My father, the late Mr. Alfred Ellis, was a friend and contemporary of the late Charles Waterton, and, like that eminent naturalist, he was a great protector and observer of all our British birds, and yet his gardens, both

flower and vegetable, were very much above the average both in beauty and productiveness, though the surrounding district was swarming with all descriptions of birds. The Kestrel and White or Barn Owl were specially encouraged to breed in the vicinity, and it was to their relentless pursuit of the mouse tribe by day and night that his garden escaped the depredations of these unnoticed pests. The ordinary keeper always shoots these interesting creatures, though they seldom or never touch young birds, and invariably prefer mice and beetles to any other diet. I do not believe any wild bird destroys buds, or anything else, for the mere love of destruction, as some of your correspondents seem to imply, and if they now and then nip off a bud for the sake of an insect that would not perhaps injure the fruit, this is more than counterbalanced by the numbers of destructive insects they consume. A good many of our small birds will eat ripe fruit when they get the chance, but a little protection will prevent this, and, after all, they have a right to a little, as by their consumption of millions of grubs they have helped to produce the crop.-GEOFFREY ELLIS (Leicester)."

[Mr. Ellis is not quite correct in stating that the Kestrel and Barn Owl seldom or never touch young birds. On examining the pellets cast up by them, which furnish the best evidence in regard to the nature of their food, we have repeatedly found the skulls and other bones of Sparrows and Greenfinches, in addition to the remains of mice, voles, and shrews.-ED.]

Former Occurrence of the Collared Pratincole in Essex.- I have just investigated the history of an Essex specimen of this rare bird, which seems to have been completely overlooked by ornithologists, though it was briefly recorded at the time of its occurrence in The Field' (August 31st, 1861), by Mr. Henry Shaw, taxidermist, of High Street, Shrewsbury, who states that it " was shot by Capt. the Hon. G. R. C. Hill, about a fortnight back, in Essex, whilst out duck-shooting; it is a fine bird, and had much the appearance of having recently sat upon eggs. The stomach was full of small beetles. Its appearance on the wing was much like that of the genus Hirundo. It is now with me for preservation, and will in due course be placed in the collection of the Viscount Hill at Hawkstone." Lord Hill has been good enough to inform me that the specimen, an adult female, is still in his possession, while his brother, the Hon. Geoffrey R. C. Hill, writes me that he cannot now remember the name of the parish wherein he shot the bird, but that at the time he "was shooting 'flappers' on the Kelvedon Marshes with Mr. Philip Bennett (who was in the Blues with me at that time), and I rather fancy the marshes belonged to, or were leased by, his father, of Rougham Hall, Bury St. Edmunds. There was a decoy there in those days, and very close to that, as we were walking up the side of the ditches after ducks, I saw a single bird coming over my head. Not knowing what it was, I shot at it, and not being any the wiser after I had

got it in my hand, I asked leave to send it to Mr. H. Shaw, of 45, High Street, Shrewsbury, for preservation for my brother's museum. I may have stated to him at that time more particulars than I am now able to give you." From the above it seems probable that the bird was shot close to the decoy on the Old Hall Marshes, Tollesbury.-MILLER CHRISTY (Chignal St. James, Chelmsford).

Reported Nesting of the Black Redstart in Dumfriesshire.-I believe that no well authenticated instance of the breeding of the Black Redstart in Great Britain has hitherto been recorded. A lady, a near neighbour of mine, who is fond of observing birds, tells me that about the 12th of June, last year, she found a nest of the Black Redstart about half a mile from Maxwelton, in Dumfriesshire. The nest was in a stone "dyke" (wall), by the side of a road on a high hill, called "Crossford." The young were hatched. She tells me that she often went to watch the birds, both with a field-glass and without one; that they let her get very near, that she is certain of their identity, and that they were Black, and not Common, Redstarts. I think that this may be accepted as an undoubted instance of the breeding of this species in this country.-W. OXENDEN HAMMOND.

Have we two sorts of Woodcock ?-Mr. Grant's paper, "Notes on Woodcock and Snipe," in the last issue of The Zoologist,' raises a question of considerable interest to naturalists and sportsmen, whether we have two sorts of Woodcock visiting this country,-a large light coloured bird, and a smaller dark one? The result arrived at by Mr. Grant, after an examination of a large series of specimens from various countries, is that the so-called small rufous race represent the young of the year, and the larger and greyer birds are adults. Without wishing to give any decided opinion, which might imply an absolute subspecific difference between the two, I think there are some facts in connection with local evidence which appear to stand opposed to Mr. Grant's theory. That there are, apparently, two sorts or races of Woodcock, recognised as such by sportsmen, past and present, which arrive periodically in the autumn in flights on the sea-coast, is a fact which cannot be disputed; also, that they are distinguishable, as stated above, by their size and colour. The records of the migrations of Woodcocks in connection with the east coast, which I have kept since 1866, indicate that, as a rule, the bulk of immigrant cocks coming to us in October and November, are recognised as belonging to the so-called small dark, and presumably Scandinavian, race, and that they arrive with N. and N.E. winds. Old east-coast sportsmen, who are, perhaps, best qualified to give an opinion, say that the large grey birds may only be expected with winds from points south of east, and that they do not arrive in flights, except under these conditions. I quite agree with Mr. Grant," that the triangular marks on the outer web of the first quill-feather are certainly

indications of youth, and not of sex." On the presumption, then, that the dark birds, which comprise our ordinary autumn flights, are all birds of the year, these markings should be very distinct and uniform. I have not found this to be the case. In some, the quill-markings are clear and perfect enough, but they appear to run through various stages to complete obliteration, the outer web of the feather becoming at last light coloured and uniform in old birds. At what period the final stage is reached, nobody can say. It is sufficient for our purpose to know that, tested by the notch-markings on the first primary, the birds shot from our big autumn flights, with the same character of plumage, are certainly not all of the same age. Another fact, which militates against Mr. Grant's theory, is that during their stay with us they do not appear to lose racial distinction: rufous they come, and rufous they depart, and are readily distinguishable as such. Only on March 26th last I flushed a little red cock from under a laurel in the garden, evidently a pilgrim on his return journey. There is certainly no reason why examples of both races, supposing such exist, should not be obtained in widely separate countries. It is not improbable that their nesting-quarters may considerably overlap; both certainly are notoriously birds of passage, and might turn up anywhere.-JOHN CORDEAUX (Great Cotes, Ulceby).

Attacks by Owls.-A few days ago I had a novel and somewhat unpleasant experience of the way in which the Tawny Owl resents an approach to its nest. About three weeks ago I found in an old dead elm a nest containing three young and two eggs, which we much hoped would not be disturbed, as till last year this bird was not known to breed here. One bright moonlight night I was standing close to the trunk of the tree, watching for the return of the birds with food for the young. Presently one of the parents perched on a tree a few yards away, uttering a peculiar whining cry, and in a minute or two dashed straight at my head. The blow inflicted was very like that of a moderately hard snowball, and putting up my hand I found my forehead bleeding freely from several places, while my cap (a soft grey woollen one) was carried off as a trophy, and found the next morning under a tree about seventy or eighty yards away. Since then I have given my protégés a wide berth after sunset. A similar instance is recorded in The Zoologist' for 1888, p. 351.-JULIAN G. TUCK (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds).

Notes on Birds' Nests.-On April 26th I found a Pied Wagtail's nest with one egg in an ivy wall in our garden, and visiting it on May 1st was surprised to find nine eggs, evidently the produce of two birds. The nest now contains ten eggs. Last winter I had an old beech stump, about eight feet long, sawn off, in which there was a Woodpecker's hole, occupied last year by Starlings. This has been planted in the ground near the

house, with the hole reduced in size so as to exclude the Starlings. One day a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was hard at work at the hole, but since then a pair of Wrynecks seem to have taken possession. Some Nuthatches are occupying a nesting-box nailed to the trunk of a Scotch fir, close to the window where I write; they hatched off in the same place last year; the nest, so far as it is visible, is entirely made of thin flakes of the bark of the tree. We have also three Tits' nests in boxes: one in an inverted flowerpot placed on a wall; one in a drain-pipe, with the ends blocked up and a hole bored in the side, laid in ivy on a wall; and one in a hollow block of elm, taken from a fernery and placed on end, with a flat stone laid on the top, and an entrance hole cut in the side. A pair of Redstarts are nesting in one of the boxes. Probably more birds would breed in the artificial nesting-places were it not for the number of old decayed beech trees around the house, which contain any amount of suitable holes. It would be a pleasure to me to show the nests above mentioned to any of the readers of 'The Zoologist' who may be in this neighbourhood, and would like to see them.-JULIAN G. TUCK (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds).

Food of the Pine Grosbeak.-It is generally supposed that the Pine Grosbeak feeds on the seeds of Coniferæ, apparently because it inhabits pine forests, but I do not think its bill is adapted for opening fir-cones, or for extracting the seeds from them. Bullfinches eat the buds of the larch in spring, and perhaps the Pine Grosbeak may eat the buds of the pine at one season of the year. In the winter of 1856-7 I was residing in Montreal, Canada, and observed large flocks of Pine Grosbeaks and Bohemian Waxwings, which frequented the gardens around that beautiful. city. The winter was very severe, the thermometer falling as low as - 31°.. The birds were feeding on the berries of the mountain ash, Pyrus americana, and high cranberry bush, Viburnum opulus. I shot many specimens of both species that winter, and of the Pine Grosbeak in the following one. It was interesting to notice the difference in the mode of feeding of the two birds; the Grosbeak, having a strong bill, crushed the frozen berries of the mountain ash, rejecting the skins, which were scattered in great quantities over the snow beneath the trees they frequented, and swallowed only the pulp and pips or seeds, the latter to be comminuted by the action of the hard muscular gizzard aided by the small stones that were always present. The pips thus ground up communicated a strong odour of prussic acid to the whole body. The Waxwings having a weak bill, capacious oesophagus, and soft membranous stomach, swallowed the berries whole and unbroken, and when they thawed the pips passed out of the body without having undergone any change by the process of digestion, and imparted no smell to the flesh, the fruity portion alone being retained for the nourishment of the bird. There was a considerable amount of orange-coloured fat on the bodies