Bird Notes and News 



45 



birds " vermin " to be destroyed with gun 

 and trap, are exemplified in the following 

 letter which appears in the Gamekeeper for 

 August : — 



" Back in the spring I found a Sparrow- 

 hawk's nest with six eggs in it. The hen, 

 which was sitting, I shot, and took away 

 four eggs. I then set a 3-in. run trap in 

 the nest. The next day I found the trap 

 on the gi'ound under the nest, with a bird's 

 beak in it, cut off close to the feathers. On 

 looking round I found a Bro^\Ti Owl with 

 its beak off and still alive. I thought this 

 rather curious." 



It might have been supposed that the 

 editor of the journal would at least express 

 some opinion on this piece of sheer barbarity, 

 which may well make the ordinary man with 

 a fist long to give the writer a " curious '' 

 experience of his own. 



# * * 



With the arrival of October the season 

 is coming on apace for fixing up bird-houses, 

 tables or trays for the birds' winter food, 

 and bird-houses in the form of nesting-boxes 

 to be ready for family life next spring. 

 Mice and dormice occasionally make use of 



nestmg-boxes during the winter, without 

 interfering with the legitimate summer 

 tenants, and once in the way Tits themselves 

 will roost in this safe shelter. It has also 

 happened that battles have been fought for 

 the comfortable nursery provided by an 

 R.S.P.B. box. " Send a second box at 

 once, Tits fighting for possession," ran an 

 imperative message last spring. Another 

 correspondent teUs of a more curious fight : — 



" I had a family of Tits in one nesting-box 

 this year, but some humble-bees took pos- 

 session of a second one. There was a great 

 fight between a small Blue Tit and a bee, 

 but finally the bee succeeded in settling in 

 the box. I drove it out once or twice, but 

 to no purpose, and the cui'ious noise it made 

 when buzzing inside the box was enough 

 to frighten any little birds away ; the hollow 

 branch seemed to magnify the sound 

 immensely." 



The triumphant bee was no doubt a queen, 

 anxiously seeking a home. Almost always 

 the bee's nest is made underground, and it 

 would be interesting to know if the box 

 was duly colonised. Happily bees, like Tits, 

 are useful friends of the garden. 



Blrd-and-Tree (Arbor) Day. 



CHALLENGE SHIELD COMPETITION, 1912. 



The Essays sent in by Elementary Schools 

 for the Challenge Shield Competitions of 

 1912 are at present in the hands of the 

 Society's judges, and results are therefore 

 postponed for the Winter Number of Bird 

 Notes and News. The reports will, however, 

 be sent to the schools as soon as possible. 

 No addition has been made this year to the 

 Shields offered, the counties competing for 

 these being again Bedfordshire, Buckingham- 

 shire, Cumberland (with Westmorland), 



Hampshire (with the Isle of Wight), Norfolk.. 

 Northamptonshire, Somerset, and Warwick- 

 shire. The principal competition in the 

 Open Class comes from Derbyshire, Suffolk, 

 and Berkshire. Norfolk again sends in the 

 largest number of papers, and it is hoped 

 that Suffolk may be stimulated to foUow 

 this excellent example. The gi-eatest falling- 

 off is in Somerset, a county which has sent 

 in some charming work and held one year 

 the Inter-County Shield. 



