428 Hewitsofi's British Oology, 



Anon. : The Observations of a Naturalist ; contained in the " Companion 



to the Almanack for 1829." 



Sir, My present communication will consist of the promised strictures 

 on the work mentioned by me (p. 184.) ; I mean, " The Observations of 

 a Naturalist," contained in the Companion to the Almanac for 1829, pub- 

 lished under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful 

 Knowledge. It will, probably, be thought presumptuous in so young a 

 naturalist as myself attempting to refute assertions emanating from such 

 high authority ; but facts, Mr. Editor, are stubborn things. 



It would, probably, have been better had they been noticed before j but 

 as I did not see the book in question till a year and a half after its publi- 

 cation, I trust that will be sufficient excuse. It is, however, " better late 

 than never" to correct an error; and one or two have gone forth to the 

 world under the sanction of this Society, which, no doubt, stamps every 

 article proceeding from it with the air of correctness and truth ; which 

 might mislead young beginners and people who are not in the habit of 

 investigating for themselves. First, then, under the head of birds, in the 

 remarks for January, the following passage occurs : — " Some gardeners 

 who know no better " [forsooth !] " accuse many birds of destroying the 

 buds of their trees at this season, because they are seen continually nibbling 

 about them. The truth is, however, that it is not the buds, but the insects 

 frequenting them, of which the birds are in search." Will the would-be- 

 naturalist tell me that the bill of the bullfinch looks like one of the in- 

 sectivorous tribe ? I have shot these birds in the act of eating the buds 

 from cherry trees, and which they destroyed in such numbers as to render 

 the attendance of a man with a gun indispensably requisite, if the owner 

 wished to have any crop. When I had killed them, I squeezed the buds 

 out of their throats which they were in the act of swallowing. I have like- 

 wise examined their crops, and found them to contain cherry buds divested 

 of their outer husks; and the ground underneath the trees was always 

 profusely scattered with the husks refused by the birds. This, from actual 

 observation, negatives what the " naturalist " asserts as truth. 



I do not mean to deny but many birds may pick insects from the buds ; 

 but I know the bullfinch actually to subsist at the spring of the year on 

 them. Sparrows, tomtits, &c., are great frequenters of gooseberry bushes, 

 and certainly pick the buds off;' but I have never examined them so as to 

 state positively whether they use them as an article of food or not. I have 

 known people, who, to prevent the ravages of the tomtit, have dressed a 

 piece of raw meat with arsenic, and fastened it securely in an apple tree, 

 in the vicinity of their gooseberry trees. The rapacious tomtits would eat 

 the flesh in preference to searching or eating the buds, and consequently 

 pay for their feast with their lives. I next proceed to the note on the owl. 

 In his remarks for March, he asserts again : — " But the truth is, that 

 the owl only utters her cry while on the wing." Now, this again (though 

 I acknowledge it is not very polite) I am obliged decidedly to contradict, 

 as owls which build in Attenborough Church, in this parish, sit on the 

 turrets, and hoot fearfully ; an old white owl used to frequent a dovecot 

 not two hundred yards from where I am writing this, and, late in the even- 

 ing, would sit at the top, and utter its doleful cries. What it came to the 

 dovecot for, I do not pretend to say, unless it might prey on the young 

 pigeons, or suck the eggs. I notice these two observations merely to set 

 the author right; and, as he says, " the truth is," he is incorrect. I see 

 many quotations, likewise, from White's Natural History of Selborne: I 

 fancy, the observations should have been original. I am, Sir, yours, &c. — 

 Scolopax rusticola. Chilwelly April 19. 1831. 



Hewitsony William C. : British Oology ; being Illustrations of the Eggs of 

 British Birds, with Figures of each Species, drawn and coloured from 



