Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/379

Rh ger will induce them to quit altogether. Crows, from making a great noise on the approach of an enemy, are encouraged by game-keepers to Dreed in their coverts, because they intimate by their hoarse cries the approach of any dog, cat or poacher, so that the keeper is soon on the alert. When however their young ones are hatched, the old crows are always destroyed, either by the gun or gin, as they prove very injurious by sucking the eggs of game &c.—Id.

Note on Magpies and Starlings. Magpies and starlings not only sit on the backs of sheep to pick out their ticks, but to observe the grasshoppers which the flock disturb as they feed, and on which these birds feast luxuriously.—Id.

Note on the Starling. I stood this morning for nearly an hour, watching a pair of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). They had chosen a hole in a tree close to me for their nest, in the construction of which the female alone was engaged; the male sate near, looking on, but never fetching any materials; he seemed to be a sort of guard or sentinel, as he repeatedly drove off some sparrows that were too inquisitive as to the progress the nest was making. The female, in her arduous task, made on an average (by my watch) three trips per minute, with small twigs and bits of dry grass, which she picked up near the tree. Sometimes she took three or four small ones at one time; so that at this rate, supposing her to work for only six hours, she would have brought together upwards of a thousand sticks &c, which would be more than sufficient to form her nest.—Beverley R. Morris, M.D.; York, April 19, 1842.

Note on the Ring Ouzel. We see the ring ouzel every year in May, and again in the month of September, so that it appears to migrate from the south and the north on the approach of spring. This bird often breeds in Derbyshire, and I am confident also that it occasionally builds in these parts. Mr. White states that he shot a ring ouzel in May, having small rudiments of eggs in her, which would probably have been laid in a few weeks. Now since this neighbourhood is forty miles north of Selborne, and these birds tarry some days at every place where they halt, they would not arrive here till a fortnight after their appearance at that village, so that I am inclined to think that some of these ouzels, finding their time of laying nigh at hand, do not extend their journey any further, but remain with us to breed, as we know they have occasionally done.—''Wm. Hewett.''

Note on the Frugivorous Propensities of the Throstle or Song Thrush. Although this bird is resident in England, it is said to be migratory in France, arriving about the time of the vintage, and feeding greedily on the grapes, whence it has been called the vine-thrush. They are remarkably fond of ripe gooseberries, always selecting the largest; they pick out the calyx, thus making a hole, and without removing the gooseberry from the tree, empty it of its contents, leaving the husk only attached to the stem. I have found the thrushes easily caught by placing an iron rat-trap under the finest gooseberries: they are not at all afraid of the trap, but jump on the little table in the centre in order to reach the fruit more conveniently, and if it does not go off at once with their weight, it is sure to do so with their active movements as they keep on pecking away at the gooseberries. They also eat great quantities of plums and cherries, and early in the year I have known them scratch up newly sown peas. These birds are remarkably prolific, producing three and sometimes even four broods in a year. Finding that if I destroyed their nests and eggs they began building again immediately, I thought by taking the eggs out of the nest and dipping them in boiling water, their vitality would be destroyed, and that the bird would still waste the usual period of incubation; but I found they would not sit on eggs so served: and if some