forgotten for a long time, but when at length it was revisited three or four tails appeared the only result. No doubt the surviving mouse, having devoured its companions, escaped by a desperate leap! The barn owl is not exempt from occasionally indulging itself with game, especially when it has to supply its young ones. I once noticed a bird of this species, in broad daylight, as it was skimming over a field, suddenly drop down upon a brood of young partridges, and carry off one in its talons. The poor mother partridge most bravely endeavoured, though unsuccessfully, to give battle to the aggressor, whilst the father bird beat a retreat with his remaining young ones.-Arthur J. Clark-Kennedy; Little Glemham, April 3, 1876.

The Blackbreasted Dipper.-As I have received the Scandinavian dipper (Cinclus melanogaster) from Denmark, and also seen the Norfolk specimens, I have no doubt that Mr. Boyes is perfectly correct in assigning his bird to that race. A true species it can hardly be said to be, for examples occur with just a tinge of chesnut; such a one I have had from Spain. My Yorkshire example, to which Mr. Boyes alludes, and which was killed near Bridlington, and purchased by me of the late Mr. Jones, has a faint tinge. That all East Yorkshire dippers are Cinclus melanogaster is not probable. I feel sure I have seen C. aquaticus, which had been killed in that county, near the coast. Mr. Boyes asks about the plumage of the young dipper in autumn writing from recollection, for I have not my collection to refer to, I should say the breast and under parts were all spotted. In that young stage it is the "Penrith ouzel" of our old writers.-J. H. Gurney, jun.; Edinburgh Hotel, Edinburgh, April 10, 1876.

White Blackbird.-I got a very fine pure white variety of the blackbird this season; it was shot at Dromore, County Down. It has dark brown eyes, with orange eyelids and yellow beak, which prove it to be a mere variety, and not an albino. I have been told that there is one in a garden near Belfast, which has lived there for several years; it is also all pure white.-Thomas Darragh; Belfast Museum.

Habits of the Blackbird.-In North Berwick it seems to be the habit of blackbirds to perch upon housetops. I heard one singing beautifully in the evening-it was the 6th of April-from a factory chimney some eighty feet high.-J. H. Gurney, jun.; April 11, 1876.

Blackbird with Pied Head.-Last November I shot a blackbird which had two dirty patches of white on each side of the head, close to its eyes. I should have preserved it, but it was in shocking condition, its tail, and many feathers from various parts of its body, being absent.-C. Matthew Prior; Avenue, Bedford.

Goldencrested Wren.-I am told by a very good observer of birds that last October one of those strange influxes of goldencrested wrens took place at Scarborough. Many were flitting about on the houses, and even in the streets boys might be seen striking at them with their caps. There can be

little doubt that these birds had crossed the German Ocean. Small wonder if such mites-tired by their long journey, and alighting on the first land they come to become an easy prey to enemies of every kind.-J. H. Gurney, jun.; Darlington, March 26, 1876.

Reproduction in a Bird's Beak.-Mr. Rogers, of Plymouth, has now a pair of beautiful Cornish choughs, which he tells me have been in confinement for sixteen or seventeen years. A long time ago the upper mandible of the bill of one of these birds was torn or broken almost completely off, near the base, by being jambed between the door, or hitched in the wires, of its cage. However, as it was hanging by a slender process, Mr. Rogers carefully bound or spliced it together with waxed thread, in the hope that it might in time unite; but the moment the operation was completed up jumped the bird on its perch, and, giving its head a tremendous shake, off came the mandible, at once falling to the bottom of the cage. After this Mr. Rogers says, the poor thing was very "queer" for a few days, and of course could not eat. Therefore, as something was obliged to be done to prevent the poor creature from starving, he placed hemp-seed in the hollow of his hand, keeping his fingers a little spread, so that the bird, by thrusting its long lower mandible between them, and thus bringing the stump of the upper one on a level with the palm, should be enabled to pick up the seeds. This manœuvre seemed to be at once understood by the knowing, hungry bird, and the plan answered admirably: ultimately, however, Mr. Rogers adopted another, by letting the hemp-seed float on the surface of water, in a deep pan, or cup, with equal success. After this, the bill began to grow tolerably long, though rather rough, slender, and a little crosswise, so that, in trying to pick up anything from the ground or floor of its cage, the bird was obliged to hold its head on one side, and, strange to say, the tip of the uninjured lower mandible grew long and sharp, so as to necessitate its being often cut. After a while the somewhat slender and ill-formed upper bill broke or fell off again, but since then has been reproduced, and is now, and has been for many years, as perfect as ever it was before the first accident happened, with the exception of its being slightly awry at the tip.-J. Gatcombe.

Errata. In my note on the Cornish chough (S. S. 4823) for "has been increasing within the last ten years," read "gradually increasing within the last few years."-J. G.

Temerity of the Robin.-A friend writes to me as follows:-"A pair of robins have built their nest in the wall of a large school near Banbury, containing nearly 200 boys. The female has laid three eggs. March 29th."-C. Matthew Prior.

Manner of Feeding of the Starling.-Captain Hadfield says, "If it were the starling's habit to force its bill down to the base,' after the manner of the rook, we should find the feathers worn, but they are not." Does this imply that because the rooks dig the feathers are worn off?

Bewick says "that it is an original peculiarity," and Waterton also says "That he kept two young rooks in a cage, and the feathers in course of time dropped out, although they had no opportunity of thrusting their bills in earth." I am of the opinion that the starling thrusts its beak shut into the ground, for this reason: I had a tame starling, which, if you put your hand closed into the cage, would thrust its beak between the fingers, and endeavour to force them apart with greater strength than one would imagine.-C. Matthew Prior.

Starlings Pecking with Beak Open.-My letter to you on the subject of starlings pecking the ground with their beaks open has led to quite a discussion, and your contributors have produced abundant evidence that it is a common and well-known fact. Their mode of doing it is not yet settled. That they sometimes thrust the beak in closed, and afterwards open it, is very likely, but I am sure, from observation, that they very often-I think I may say generally-thrust it into the grass open, and this is what I wished to express in my first letter to you.-J. II. Gurney, jun.

Mode of Starling's Feeding.-A gentleman friend of mine has now in his possession a starling, which he reared from the nest, and, should it live until June next, it will then be twelve years of age, during the whole of which time my friend has never seen it peck with its beak open, but the opening of the beak during feeding is a matter of daily occurrence; for ten years past the same bird has been under my frequent observation, and I can fully corroborate my friend's statement, and, on account of there being illness in the house for five or six weeks past, I have been a daily visitor to the house, and have taken the opportunity of watching the starling whilst feeding, and have observed that when first the food is placed in the cage (the food consisting chiefly of soaked bread, with, occasionally, chopped meat or hard boiled egg) all the choice bits are carefully taken off the surface, then the beak is thrust, while closed, to the bottom of the cup, and widely opened by pressing back the lower mandible, and the choice bits below the surface are rapidly selected, after which the bread is eaten. The bird is also very fond of cold boiled potato, which is given to it whole, but in eating it there is no pecking at it with open beak, or opening of the beak more than in ordinary feeding; again, if the lady of the house will take any favourite morsel, and place it between her lips, so as to hide it from sight, the beak will be inserted, whilst closed, between the lips, then opened, and the food taken from the lady's mouth, but there will be no pecking with open beak. From the observations I have been able to make, I am decidedly of opinion that starlings do not peck with their beaks open, but that they make use of the action of opening their beaks to thrust aside the grass or other herbage amongst which they are feeding, in order to see grubs or any other food that may be found there on the surface. I do not fancy they ever thrust their beaks into the solid earth. My friend suggests the action may be of use, 2 C

SECOND SERIES-VOL. XI.

whilst, as we often see starlings, searching for insects, &c., on the backs of sheep, to enable them to separate the wool, and so obtain their object. As I am writing I may as well state that the above-named starling is an excellent talker, making use of the following and other phrases, " Is it nice,' "Is it good," "He wants his dinner," "How are you," &c., and at times he would seem to know what he is talking about, as the following instance will show:-The lady of the house was sitting at work on a summer's afternoon, with the window open, the bird being by her side: on looking out of the window she saw a donkey endeavouring to get over the hedge into the garden; she sprang up without saying a word and hastily ran into the garden; on passing the window she saw the starling in the greatest excitement, flying about the cage, and saying, as fast as he could repeat the phrase, "What is it," "What is it." When she returned to the parlour, she sat down again to her work; the bird quickly became less excited, yet sat quietly on the perch, but constantly repeating "What is it." The lady, without the least idea of being understood by the bird, said "The donkey was trying to get into the garden." "Was it," replied the starling, and then became perfectly quiet, seemingly quite satisfied in the matter.-Stephen Clogg; East Looe, Cornwall, April 13, 1876.

A Note on Rooks.-About five years ago a few pairs of rooks took possession of some high trees near the Paper Mills here, and the number of nests went on increasing till last year, 1875, when the place was entirely deserted, and not a single family remained. This year they have appeared again, and the whole of the twenty or thirty nests seem to be occupied. Might one suppose that the first colony, which, though rearing its young successfully for several seasons, yet conceived some distaste to the place, and that, after the one year's interval, an entirely new set took possession, or is it only another instance of the eccentric habits of these birds? When the weather is dry, and food bad to extract from the hard ground, they show a considerable amount of cunning in snapping up the eggs laid by some wild ducks, a few of which breed yearly on a reservoir near the same place, and it has often been impossible to get a sitting without bringing them to the hens inside. A man has to be regularly on the watch at this time, and he and the rooks have many a race for the newly-laid eggs. The black rascals sit three or four together on some of the trees on the banks, looking as if they had no concern whatever in mundane affairs; but let a duck swim out to take its morning's bath, and flop! down they go right to the place it has come from, and its egg is gone in five minutes; lucky is the man if he arrive in time to secure it himself, for they are almost wholly indifferent to any amount of shouting and hallooing off. Two swallows and a house martin just seen this spring, April 11th, rather earlier than usual.-F. S. Mitchell; Clitheroe, Lancashire, April 20, 1876.

Note on Rooks, &c.

As a proof that even the best authorities are

liable to error, I beg to cite the following instance :-Gilbert White, in his Natural History of Selborne,' says, "Rooks do not copulate in trees nor on their nests, but on the open ground." This is not correct, for on March 27th I distinctly saw, in two different places, rooks copulating in trees. I do not say this is the rule, by any means, but at least it is an exception. First heard the wryneck on March 23rd. The ring dove has again taken to those graceful undulating motions which they always assume in the breeding season.-C. Matthew Prior.

Arrival of Swallows and Sand Martins.-Yesterday, on passing a large fish pond, where I have for many years past seen the earliest arrivals of swallows, at 2 P.M. I could not see one, but on my return, about 4 P.M., there. were fifty or more swallows, with about half a dozen sand martins, busily hawking about over the surface of the pond, which is several acres in extent. They are the first I have seen for the year, and the only arrival of spring migrants I have yet seen.-Stephen Clogg; April 13, 1876.

Great Bustard in Orkney.-You may be interested to learn that a great bustard was shot here on March 29. On that date Mr. W. Stephenson, of New Holland, Stronsay, seeing a large number of gulls circling over some object in one of his fields, and thinking it might be one of his sheep dead, went towards them, and discovered the object of their interest to be a large and strange bird. It seemed so tame that he attempted to drive it to the farmstead, but it at length took wing, and, after flying for about a mile, returned over the same field, when Mr. Stephenson killed it with an almost vertical shot, at what he considered to be about one hundred yards from the ground. The bird coincided in every respect with the description given by Yarrell of the great bustard, and the ill-developed plumes on the chin showed it to be a female bird of mature age. The stomach was perfectly packed with partially digested grass and green stuff, and the ovary contained several eggs in a very early stage of formation. The body was muscular and in good condition, but almost entirely destitute of fat, the total weight being nine pounds and three-quarters. The stretch of the wings was four feet ten inches and a half; length from tip of beak to tip of tail, two feet eleven inches; circumference over folded wings, one foot nine inches and a half; and height, with neck slightly curved backwards, two feet six inches. -John Bruce; Kirkwall, Orkney. (From the Field,' April 8, 1876.)

Great Bustard in Orkney.—With reference to the great bustard recently obtained in Orkney, I have much pleasure in informing you that it has been stuffed, and is now in the possession of Mr. Stephenson, of Stronsay Vale, on whose farm and by whom it was shot. Previous to being observed in Stronsay it had been seen on an uninhabited skerry by several people, and supposed to be an eagle. Tolerably strong easterly winds prevailed for three days before its discovery, which might have assisted it in its supposed journey from the Continent. I may add that the body, when skinned, had