1924. Notes, 75 



to territory, Mr. Burkitt set himself to ring (in such a way that each 

 of them could afterwards be identified at sight) all the Robins round 

 his house that appeared to be in occupation of territories in the autumn 

 and winter of 1922-3, and from that time forward until the date of his 

 paper (Jan. 7th, 1924) he succeeded in ringing thirty birds, and though 

 a considerable number of these afterwards disappeared from unknown 

 causes, some ten were kept under close enough survey to yield results 

 of great mterest. 



The retention of the Robin's song throughout the greater part of 

 the year suggests a corresponding retention of territory. By marking 

 the territories of each of his marked birds Mr. Burkitt has ascertained 

 that the area held by a pair in the breeding-season is, on the average, 

 about li acres, while half that space suffices for an individual bird during 

 the winter. In other words the area in which his operations were carried 

 on gave nesting grounds to seven or eight pairs, and in the following 

 winter held thirteen to fourteen single birds. 



The relation of song to territory is brought out with peculiar force 

 by Mr. Burkitt 's discovery of the fact that all his marked female Robins 

 were in the habit of singing, though he adds that he has " no evidence 

 yet that any female sings during the nesting season." The natural 

 mference is that it is only (or at least chiefly) when she has a territory 

 of her own to defend against all comers^ — her late husband included — 

 that she makes use of her gifts as a vocalist. A great deal has, however, 

 still to be learnt on these points, as so many marked birds slipped away 

 before a year's record of their movements had been obtained. It is 

 much to be hoped that Mr. Burkitt will find time to continue his 

 observations to at least the end of another year, though the task involved 

 is certainly not a light one — as he says himself, " the job meant ruling 

 out other recreation." 



Spiranthes Romanzoffiana. 



The " Orchid Review," March 1924, contains a very interesting article 

 on Spiranthes Romanzoffiana written by Mr. Henry Mousley, Eastern 

 Townships, Canada, which should not be allowed to escape the notice 

 of Irish botanists. The article is concerned mainly with the question 

 as to whether this orchid is gemmiparous and refers to an important 

 paper on the same subject in a previous number of the " Review " (Sept. 

 1922), written by Colonel M. J. Godfery, F.L.S., in which after quoting 

 the original diagnosis of the species and examining all available evidence 

 Col. Godfery sums up his conclusions as follows : — " The evidence is 

 incontrovertible that Spiranthes Romanzoffiana is not gemmiparous, the 

 name gemmipara being solely founded on a misapprehension of 

 Drummond's ambiguous statement." Drummond's statement referred 

 to above is " Buds destined to flower the following year are formed 

 among the leaves at the bottom of the flower stalk .... the following 

 spring each bud puts forth a pair of oblong knobs .... and becomes 

 a separate plant." 



