PONDS, PADDOCKS, AND AVIARIES 65 



unusual abundance of all small rodents in those parts, 

 though this writer does not specially mention the lem-^^ 

 mings. I am sorry to hear of the death of your 

 Lapp ; my two survivors are doing well. I believe 

 that one of them, if it lives, will become pure white ; 

 they have both developed a very curious note, some- 

 thing like the rapid half bark, half growl of a little deep- 

 voiced beagle puppy. My three-toed woodpecker * only 

 lived for about a fortnight, though he fed on ants' 

 eggs, hard-boiled egg and breadcrumbs, flies, gentles, 

 etc., and tapped vigorously till the end. The grey- 

 headed one was at the point of death, but has entirely 

 picked up again ; he has been put into a large den, 

 and liberally supplied with great clods of earth containing 

 ants' nests. 



" I have had many hoopoes ; they became absurdly 

 tame, but I do not think it possible to keep them through 

 the winter in this country, except by letting them fly in 

 a sanded room in a temperature of 70° — 80°. 



" I have two young rollers,t tailless but healthy, very 

 jealous of each other and quarrelsome ; one of them is 

 quite tame." ' 



1 To E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, Esq. 



* Picoides tridacfylus. A Continental species not on the British 

 list. 



t The Roller (Coracias garrulus), a bird allied to the woodpeckers 

 and kingfishers, is a straggling visitor to Britain. It is nearly the 

 size of a jackdaw, and is wonderfully coloured in chestnut and many 

 shades of clear blue. 



5 



