24 



Bird Notes and News 



SOME BIRD IMPEESSIONS IN FRANCE. 



It is usually interesting to hear the first 

 impressions of an ornithologist in England or 

 in EurojDC, and those made by bird-songs are 

 particularly so when recorded by a naturalist 

 such as Mr. Henry Oldys, of Washington, D.C., 

 who has specialised on the notes of American 

 birds. Writing from the American Red Cross, 

 under which he has been actively working 

 during the war in France and Poland, Mr. Oldys 

 says that he has made the acquaintance of 

 about fifty European birds. Like John 

 Burroughs and Mr. Roosevelt, he has been 

 particularly charmed by the Robin, but a brief 

 reference to the Nightingale suggests that he 

 has never heard this to advantage. Many 

 species were reminiscent of American birds : — 



The Crows caw and act generally like our Crows; 

 the Green Woodpecker flies down to the ground to 

 feast on ants like our Flicker and utters a repeated 

 note that is very like the Flicker's spring reveille; 

 the Wren bobs about like our Wren, though a trifle 

 more sedately, but sings more like the winter Wren 

 though in a less attractive voice ; the Titmice, of 

 which there are several species, gaudier in attire than 

 our Chickadee, having the same " chickadee-dee-dee " 

 and other notes, but differ in their songs. The Black- 

 bird behaves precisely like our Robin and utters the 

 same strident note of alarm, but is a far better singer, 

 rivalling the Wood Thrush in this respect. 



The Lark, mounting from the field with its loud 

 and far-carrying song of varied phrases, in which the 

 "z" sound is prevalent, gives pleasure more from the 

 abandon and joyousness of its singing than from any 

 musical beauty in the performance. It rises by a 

 fluttering movement that carries it upward almost 

 imperceptibly, poises and flutters in the upper air, 

 usually at a height of five or six hundred feet, but 

 sometimes one hundred feet above the earth, then 

 descends by alternative dives and fluttermg pauses, 

 though I have seen one descend in a straight dive of 

 a thousand feet. 



The Nightjar suggests a spinning-wheel. It gives 

 a performance that lasts several minutes without any 

 apparent stop for breath. When I first heard the 

 '■ song " I thought I was listening to many frogs in 

 a pool. The tone is not at all raucous, but is very 

 pleasing to the ear, though absolutely dry and without 

 any approach to music. 



The Cuckoo surprised me with the great, heavy 

 character of its utterance. The cuckoo-clock note, 

 though a faithful reproduction, would have to be 

 much magnified in calibre to reproduce with exactness 

 the actual tone. 



The Robin is a prime favourite with me. Modest, 

 tranquil, gentle, unobtrusive, he is my best friend 

 among the European birds, perhaps I might say 

 among all birds. In his singing of the two or three 

 short phrases, vibrant in tone and often carrying the 

 quality of the Veery's song, though reduced in volume, 

 he seems to be the unconscious instrument through 

 which the music of Nature is pulsing. There is an 

 inadvertence about his singing that relieves it of all 

 self-consciousness. All through the year these bits 

 of Pan-music may be heard, the singer poised motion- 



less upon a lower twig of a sapling, the orange-red 

 breast gleaming amidst the complementary green of 

 foliage. 



Another great favourite with me is the handsome 

 little Stone-chat, a Chewink in miniature, though more 

 gaily garbed. 1 remember a grass-topped clilf beside 

 the sea at Sainte Marguerite (near Saint I.azaire) 

 where one or two pairs of Stone-chats made their 

 homes. Whenever I came upon this high vantage 

 point, these birds would ascend at once to the tips 

 of the low shrubs in which they lived and stand guard 

 silently, like well-trained and alert sentinels. And 

 when I moved to the edge of the cliff, they would follow 

 me, always perched upon the top of shrub, fence-post, 

 or whatever other place of sentry duty they selected. 

 I have seen the brilliantly clad male mount guard on 

 the top of a stake not more than five feet from the 

 point where I was resting on the grass. 



I have been much interested in watching the 

 Jackdaws circling about the towers of cathedrals or 

 settling on the ledges with peculiar guttural conver- 

 sational or controversial notes, their grey heads readily 

 distinguishing them from the rest of the corvine tribe. 



The Nuthatch, though like ours in appearance and 

 behaviour, differs materially in voice, having varied 

 loud, clear calls, some of which suggest the Tufted 

 Titmouse. The Song Thrush, or Mavis, recalls our 

 Brown Thrasher, but is far superior to that bird 

 musically. I have heard from it songs that were 

 nearly identical with Cardinal and Carolina Wren 

 phrases. 



GREETING-CARD FOR 1920-21. 

 Ready Shortly. 



BRITAIN'S BLUE BIRD. 



From the Painting by Mr. Roland Green ; 

 reproduced in Colour. 



AN 



ABC OF COMMON BIRDS 



A pocket Guide to the commoner Inland Birds of Britain 



With short and simple descriptions from which 

 they may be identified by the unlearned ; their 

 local names ; and brief notes on the food they 

 eat that may be regarded as " pro " or " con " 

 the interests of husbandman and gardener. 



1 6mo. 64 pages. Price 6d., by post 7d. 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds 



23, QUEEN ANNE'S GATE, S.W.I. 



Bird Notes and News (issued quarterly) will 

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