Bird Notes and News 



71 



cruelty were the important thing. Although 

 this is an extreme case, birds are almost 

 always sent without water, or at most a tiny 

 piece of sponge which soon goes dry." 



Every bird-lover will echo this pathetic 

 plea for the foreign bird. But England can 

 hardly press for prohibition of export from 

 other countries before she obtains it for her 

 own birds. In the United States, for 

 instance, where no native birds may be caged, 

 and in Canada, it is the English bird which 

 is the foreigner, and the European Larks and 

 Linnets and Goldfinches and Thrushes which 

 are " the unhappy captives in our midst." 

 Miss Marshall Saunders (Hahfax, N.S.) says 

 on this subject : — 



" Of all the foreign birds held in captivity, 

 it has seemed to me that the European 

 Skylark suffers most. I have watched them 

 stage by stage through a long agony till 

 the subject is so painful to me that I cannot 

 bear to think of it . . . It seems to me 

 that if I were a humanitarian in Europe I 

 should strain every nerve to have a law 

 passed, prohibiting the capture of this 

 exquisite, trembhng bird for cage purposes." 



Two pleasant pictures of bird-watching 

 come, the one from a Sussex village, the other 

 from Tampa, in Florida. Mr. James Shaw, 

 an octogenarian correspondent, \vTites (in 

 a handwriting of microscopic deUcacy) : — 



" I have many friends among the birds, 

 principally Blue Jays, Mocking-birds, a 

 small bird I call a Wren, several kinds of 

 Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves, Humming 

 birds, and occasionally Butcher - birds. 

 Opposite my house a small stream, known as 

 Spanish Tomti Creek, flows down to the bay, 

 and is a favorite resort for my feathered 

 friends ... I am principally attracted by 

 the Mocking-bird — such a cheerful, happy, 

 companionable bird — a Hve oak close to our 

 porch is a favourite spot ; no false modesty 

 about him ! Many times he A\dll come down 

 where I can almost touch him, and thrill 

 me with his matchless song. His dropping 



song when approaching his mate is wonderful. 

 He sings the first stanza in a low dreamy 

 voice, and then as if the sweetness of his love 

 exalted him, he hfts his voice higher and 

 higher until the air rings with its melody. 

 His mate twitters an answer. His response 

 comes like the notes of a silver trumpet. 

 He springs up into the air and slowlj- drops 

 singing, ahghting on a twag above his mate, 

 and beginning to fall from branch to branch, 

 but singing more softly and sweetly as he 

 approaches her. 



" I have seen this many times as I sit in 

 my porch." 



The other story is of a Nuthatch and a 

 Great Tit :— 



" For the last few years we have had a most 

 delightful pair of Nuthatches as friends, 

 who have been kind enough to nest in the 

 garden two or three times. They have been 

 most exacting in their demands and the 

 temper and impatience shown by the cock 

 bird over a moment's delay in opening the 

 window were extraordinary. We never got 

 them to eat out of our hands, but they would 

 come M-ithin a foot or two, and it almost 

 seemed as if they caught the nuts before 

 they reached the ground. 



" We were much amused by a Great Tit 

 who also wished to join the family circle and 

 feared nothing but the Nuthatches. He 

 carefully observed them from a respectful 

 distance and decided to take to nut-eating 

 himself. Cracking nuts on an acacia branch 

 seemed very simple to him as a looker-on, 

 but he had to practise a great deal before 

 he could even pick one up. At last he 

 managed to fly \\'ith a nut in his beak, but 

 could only carry it up into a hme-tree by 

 the \nndow. His surprise and exasperation 

 at finding it rolled off branches were most 

 amusing. After trying for days to learn to 

 balance them, he took to holding one in a 

 claw, standing on one leg and tapping the 

 nut with his beak. His dejection at his 

 want of success was so piteous that some 

 nuts were cracked for him, after which he 

 became a harder taskmaster than the 

 Nuthatches." 



Possibly Nuthatches and Tits are now 

 fighting for Nesting-boxes, unless plenty are 

 provided for both ! 



