484 Queries and Answers. 



that they do, as doubtless it is, another instance is supplied of 

 provision for the prevention of waste in nature. Forster, in 

 his Encyclopedia of Natural Phenomena, ed. 1827, p. 112., 

 has, under the subject 



Nidification, this remark : — " Birds build very early, and 

 begin to repair their old nests in the beginning of February." 

 Do all nest-building species of birds repair their old nests ? 

 If not all, which do, and which do not? 



What is the Most Effectual Method of Preventing the House 

 Martin (Hir/mdo urbica Lin.) from Building in Particular 

 Spots ? — I am no enemy to house martins ; on the contrary, 

 I cherish them as friends ; summer friends, indeed, but yet 

 friends in a birdish sense of the word. Yet is there one par- 

 ticular nook which I would fain teach them to regard as 

 tabooed ; where, in plain English, I wish them not to build. 

 To effect this object I have tried various devices. I have 

 washed the wall with salt and water : this did not prevent 

 them. I then rubbed it well with soap and water ; for a time this 

 perplexed them sorely ; they could not make their mortar ad- 

 here, and down it fell as fast as they attempted to apply it : 

 however, on they went, and, in a few days, their mansion has 

 progressed most rapidly; and the little black and white rogues 

 are ever and anon peeping out from behind their mud wall, 

 as much as to say, " We have beaten you, and the more you 

 annoy us, the more we won't go." The rascals know well 

 enough that, the walls once up, I shall not have the heart to 

 pull them down; and so, having got possession, they laugh to 

 scorn all my attempts to dislodge them. What would you 

 advise against another year? for in this I can, of course, do 

 nothing. — S. Taylor. Whittington, near Stokeferry, Norfolk, 

 May 22. 1836. [The spreading of a thick coat of soap over 

 the place wished free is recommended by Mr. Fennell, in VII. 

 82.: the insufficiency of soap and water, noticed above, dis- 

 courages expectation of the sufficiency of soap.] 



The Mocking Bird (O'rpheus polyglottus). — Has the at- 

 tempt ever been made to' naturalise this bird in this country 

 by giving some individuals their liberty? or would it be likely 

 to succeed if made ? — E. Ventris. Cambridge, Jan. 18. 1836. 



There is no doubt that the mocker would be able to sus- 

 tain itself in this country as easily as our different thrushes. 

 It would migrate in winter ; but, then, all migrative birds re- 

 turn annually and instinctively to the same breeding-place ; a 

 well-known fact, bearing importantly on the distribution of the 

 feathered race. Man would be the only impediment to its 

 introduction, as there is no means of securing it from the 

 ceaseless persecution with which every rare bird (and more 

 particularly so conspicuous a species) is sure to be assailed in 



