4*8 4 Queries and Answers. 



Art. V. Queries and Anstvers. 



A Pair of Butcher Birds {Ldnius Collurio, m, etf. ?). — About three years 

 ngo, a pair of butcher birds were observed building in this neighbourhood, and 

 were watched till their eggs were on the point of hatching and then snared. 

 These birds have since come into my possession, and on comparing thenj 

 with the plates and descriptions in Bewick's sixth edition of Land Birds, 1 

 find the male agrees precisely with that of the red-backed shrike, p. 75., 

 and the female with the one at p. 75., which is there called the woodchat; 

 but in the appendix, p. 377., where another figure of the woodchat is given 

 from a specimen in the collection of Mr. Leadbeater, is the following para- 

 graph in allusion to this figure : — "At page 75. is given a figure of a shrike, 

 which, judging from that of BufFon, appears to be the female of the wood- 

 chat ; hence it may be concluded, that if the female is found in this country, 

 so in all probability is the male also." Now as this appears to be the only 

 reason Mr. Bewick had for stating this bird to be the female woodchat 

 (Lanius riifus), I suppose that he is in error, and that the figures at p. 73. 

 and 75. are the male and female red-backed shrike (Lanius Collurio). I have 

 never seen a specimen of the woodchat known to have been killed in 

 Britain; but, perhaps, some of your readers will be able to throw a little 

 light upon both these points. — W. Farrar, M.D. Barnsley, Aug. 1. 1829. 



Peculiar Smell of the Greater Shrike. — Sir, Can any of your correspond- 

 ents account for the peculiar smell which proceeds from the greater shrike 

 (L. excubitor) after death, and which is not unlike the smell which arises' 

 from the explosion of gunpowder? 1 have noticed the same peculiarity in 

 the nuthatch (5'ltta europae^a), but in a much less degree. Yours, &;c. — A. N. 

 July 21. 1829. 



The Storks in Germany. — Sir, In Lower Germany there is a singulai' 

 belief concerning the storks {abus, as the Low Germans call them), which 

 build on the ridges of the thatched houses in the flat and marshy parts of 

 Germany. It is, that they pay the master of the house for leave to build 

 their nests on his roof; the first year they pay a quill feather, some say cut 

 into a pen ; the second, an egg; and the third year a young one; the fourth 

 year they begin with the feather again, and so on as long as the same pair 

 continue to build on the house. These payments they lay on the dung- 

 hill, which stands before what the Germans call the long door, like our barn 

 door; the barn and dwelling-house are under the same roof, the door for the 

 family is at the side. 



This I was assured was the fact by several, but I could find none who 

 had seen it, they only knew somebody who had a nest and had been paid. 

 They think it a sign of good luck to have a nest, and, therefore, as soon as 

 they see a pair of storks flying about, they collect straw, &c., for them to 

 make their nest with. Perhaps some of your numerous correspondents can 

 speak to the truth or falsity of the fact. — G. H. Clapton, Aug. 28. 1829. 



Softening the Skins of Birds. — Sir, I should feel greatly obliged to any of 

 your correspondents, if they would inform me, through the medium of your 

 Magazine, how to soften the skins of birds which have become dry and hard, 

 without injuring the feathers. Having received specimens in this state from 

 friends, who have been able to skin the bird, but not to mount it after- 

 wards ; I am at a loss how to restore suppleness, and am rather surprised 

 that in all the treatises which I have read on taxidermy, I have not found 

 any instructions upon a point so necessary to be known by preservers of 

 subjects of natural history. I am. Sir, &c. — .7. A. H. 



Acilius pumilehiis. — What are the habits of this insect, which is said to 

 prove ruinous to the wheat crops in particular situations ? ^-P.S. Ber- 

 wickshire, August, 1829. 



