OBSERVED IN HERTS IN 1891. 67 



of food." The paper also says : " Sovoval observers have re- 

 marked upon the re-appearanee of swallows aud martins after they 

 were believed to have departed for the winter. Tliis re-appearauco 

 of the birds some time after they were supposed to have migrated 

 admits of various explanations. ( 1 ) They may be individuals of 

 late broods, which were not strong enough to accompany the 

 majority at the usual period of their departure. (2) They may be 

 birds which, reared at some distance further north, are gradually 

 making their way southwards, (o) They may be birds which have 

 already attempted to leave our shores, but being driven back by 

 adverse winds or unfavourable weather, have returned to their 

 summer (juarters." It is probable that a few of the swallows and 

 perhaps house-martins remain in some parts of Great Britain during 

 the winter months. In what state they exist, and how they 

 subsist, it is difficult at present to say. 



The Rook {Corvus fnujileyus). — Mr. Arthur Dickenson informs 

 me that he has found Guinea fowls' eggs, as well as the China 

 ones placed in the nests, carried into the field and left there. He 

 credits the rooks with this piece of mischief. We can account for 

 the birds dropping the China eggs, finding them to be too indigest- 

 ablc a morsel, and, as doubt exercises a powerful influence on the 

 mind, they might think that there was something "uncanny" 

 about eggs in general after their experience with the baulkers, and 

 wisely determine to discard them for the future altogether from 

 their bill of fare. He also informs me that he has been in the field 

 and noticed the rooks circling around a turkey's nest, and he 

 concludes that they were waiting to steal the egg as soon as the bird 

 laid it and he should depart. I must confess that I am somewhat 

 incredulous about this. 



The Swift {Cypselus Apus). — I once noticed a swift struggling 

 on the road, unable to rise. I was going to the bird's assistance, 

 when a carter passing by kindly picked the bird up and threw it in 

 the air. Gilbert Wliite remarks : " They never settle on the 

 ground but through accident, and when down can hardly rise on 

 account of the shortness of their legs and the length of their 

 wings." Their prolonged stay was one of the notable events of 

 bird-life last year. Mr. Hooper writes to me: "The actual 

 departure of the swifts is so rarely witnessed that I think it worth 

 your noting that a friend of mine. Sir T. Martin, on the 4th of 

 August at 10 a.m., saw a large body, perhaps one hundred, after 

 circling around, fly off westward. This occurred in Derbyshire." 



Albinism. — Mr. Cain writes: "I stuffed a white thrush with 

 almost red eyes for Mr. C. Dickenson, Harpenden Iload. The 

 bird was caught on his grounds by his cat last summer." From 

 his description of the bird I have no doubt but that it was a 

 song-thrush aud a true albino. Mr. Cain also showed me, a short 

 time since, a perfectly white swallow. It had been shot by 

 Mr. King at Langford in August. Although the bird was not 

 actually killed in Hertfordshire, it is so interesting an event that it 

 ought to be recorded. 



