Stra}) Nature Notes 53 



serious purpose was somewhere in the back of the male's head. 

 These wrens, together with swallows, martins and other birds 

 have been very rare in Britain this summer. Intentional electro- 

 cution and other methods of slaughter for the market, on the in- 

 crease in the south of France and particularly in Italy, the half 

 way house of migration, are given as the chief causes. 



I saw the spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola) for a few 

 weeks in February and March ( 1 92 1 ) darting from some tall 

 pole and returning with his catch. 



The didric or golden cuckoo (Chr^sococc^x cupreus) is here 

 and in Jamestown from November to March with his melancholy 

 call. Starting from a topmost dead branch of the wild willow 

 or other large tree it will make for a similar footing further on, 

 calling as it flies, then on to another rest and back to its first 

 starting place. I have watched it keeping to this triangle of 

 perches, delaying a good deal and calling repeatedly at each 

 point. Possibly the foster mother is in the neighbourhood doing 

 duty by the cuckoo's eggs and the cuckoo is showing just this 

 interest in her offspring. 



