Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/183

Rh The Red-backed Shrike is a very rare bird here, and I cannot hear that one has been seen for fifteen years. On May 27th a hen bird of this species was shot, and the following day a pair were obtained. A circumstance occurred in connection with the capture of these birds that is perhaps worth mentioning. It appears the male and female were both sitting on a dead branch near each other when the female was shot. The person who shot it repaired to the same place early the following day to shoot the male, when he found a second female: this he shot, and later in the day he shot the male. Is it possible that the male had two wives? It is scarcely reasonable to suppose that he could have picked up another mate in so short a time in a part of the country where these birds are so rare. I ought to mention that the first female was laying, and had an egg fully developed in the ovary. A search was afterwards made, and the old nest containing one egg found near the spot where all the three birds were shot. The second female was a younger bird, and showed no signs of breeding, the eggs in the ovary being very small. The stomachs of these birds contained nothing but humble-bees, the largest and commonest kind, with the yellow bands on the abdomen. [What a thousand pities that these inoffensive birds should have been shot, especially since they are stated to be so rare in the neighbourhood.—]

I think I may safely say that the Spotted Crake nested on the margin of our river in May, 1876. I have never before heard them in the summer, though we generally have plenty in the autumn. The males begin to call at dusk, like Corn Crakes or Quails, only the note is very different, and may be imitated by pronouncing quickly the words "gluck, gluck" every three or four seconds. They were calling loudly on May 27th, and continued to do so for some weeks, almost always in the same places. I sought diligently for a nest, but from the large amount of shelter afforded by the sedges at this time of year, I was not able to find it.

On June 5th a Nightjar was sitting on two eggs. I have seen several of these birds sitting on their eggs here in the open moory ground, and it is by no means a fact that they always turn their heads away from the sun. [From our own observations we can confirm this. No bird is fonder of basking in the warm sunshine than the Nightjar. We have found it sitting on the shingle at the seaside, where the stones were so hot with the noonday sun that the hand could scarcely bear the contact.—]