363 



NOTES-ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



ZOOLOGY. 



BIRDS. 



Period of Incubation of the Robin.— The following 

 extract from one of the " Nature Note-Books " kept by the senior 

 girls of the Leyton County School seems worthy of record, as 

 little is known of the period of incubation of our common birds. 

 Miss E. Drayson writes : 



" 111 the garden (Woodford) are several wooden boxes, which are covered 

 with glass in winter, in order to preserve the plants inside from the frost. In 

 the spring the glass is removed in the day-time and put on at night. Ihis 

 spring (1904) an empty one had the glass broken, and a pair of robins built a nest 

 inside, and laid e^^s in it. The eggs were five in number ; the first was laid on 

 Thursday, April 7th. and the last on tlie nth, after that the bird sat on them all 

 day. On the i8th the robins were hatched, but on the 24th the cats got at them 

 and killed all the young birds." 



A series of observations of this character, with particulars of 

 the weather during the time, would help to fill the gap which 

 exists at present in our ornithological knowledge. — T. Petch,^ 

 Leytonstone. 



Protection of Birds in Essex.— The work and successes 

 of the Essex Bird Society have been frequently brought before 

 the readers of the Essex Naturalist, and the progress made in 

 1903 was admirably summarised by the Hon. Secretary, Mr. 

 Francis Dent, in his paper a;;^^ pp. 194-6. The recently-published 

 Report for 1904 now lies before us, from which it appears that 

 the shore-breeding species, especially the Black-headed Gull and 

 the Terns, are steadily increasing in numbers. In both the 

 Harwich stations, it is reported that the breeding has been good 

 the ducks and plovers throve well, and there has been an increase 

 in coots, "sea gulls," and kittiwakes. At St. Osyth there 

 were more gulls breeding on the marshes, and more terns were 

 seen than for two or three years past. A good season tor 

 plovers and coots is reported there. Free breeding is also 

 noted at BrightHngsea, West Mersea, Tollesbury, and Burnham.. 

 The St. Osyth watcher writes :— " I think that the Protection 

 Order has done good. It would be better and less confusing if 

 we had one close time for the East Coast instead of two different 

 dates for Essex and Suffolk." From Epping Forest and the 

 adjoining estates under Mr. E. N. Buxton's "League" (see 



