Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/248

224 summer of 1895. I feel sure that if Mr. Stanley Lewis will keep this Woodpecker in captivity, he will endorse my explanation of the way in which the sound which has interested him is produced. There is nothing so satisfactory as personal experience.— (Pitlochry, N.B.).

Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus) in Shropshire.—On May 18th a specimen of this rare Falcon was shot near Shrewsbury, and I examined it in the flesh. It is an immature female measuring 12 in. long; wing not quite 10 in. Amongst the contents of the stomach was an unmistakable Shrew (Sorex vulgaris). Few birds of prey except Owls will eat Shrews, probably because of their odour; so it is of interest to find that these form part of the diet of F. vespertinus. As the specific name indicates, this species seeks its prey chiefly in the evening. It has occurred twice previously in Shropshire (cf. 'Fauna of Shropshire,' p. 137).— (Shrewsbury).

Nesting of the Pigmy Falcon (Microhierax eutolmus) in Upper Burma.—The simple but wasteful system of taungya cultivation is pursued by a large proportion of the inhabitants of the villages in Upper Burma, and also by the wild tribes—Karens, Shans, Lishaws, &c.—who keep, as a rule, to the wilder tracts in the mountains. In cultivation by taungya, a patch of forest is chosen, often containing valuable timber, and the whole of the growth on it is felled, and left for a couple of months to dry, and then burnt, the ashes forming a rich manure. Occasionally a number of the larger hardwood trees, such as Pyinkado (Xylia dolabriformis), Pyinma (Lagerstrœmia flos-reginæ), &c., are only girdled—i.e. the bark and sap-wood cut through all round, and the tree allowed to die and decay standing. These solitary dead trees in taungya areas are much frequented for nesting purposes by the various wood-boring birds—Woodpeckers, Nuthatches. Barbets, &c. On April 23rd, 1899, in a deserted taungya alongside the high road leading from Thabeitkyin, on the bauks of the Irrawaddy above Mandalay, to Mogok, the site of the famous ruby mines of Upper Burma, I saw a Pigmy Falcon (Microhierax eutolmus) disappear into a hole on the under side of a branch excavated in a large dead tree. The dead and splitting bark and some horizontal lower branches made the ascent to the nest easy, and I was able to climb up and inspect the nest-hole. This was evidently once made by a Barbet, but whether the rightful owner had been ejected by the Falcon, or whether it was an old Barbet's nest-hole, I could not say; anyhow, it was occupied by the little Falcon. On enlarging the hole I was able to look into the nest, which was laid at the end of a tunnel dug out of the wood, about fifteen inches long. Nest, properly speaking, there was none, but where the tunnel ended in a slightly enlarged and oval chamber there was placed a fairly firm pad of chips of wood, a few leaves,