46 



Bird Notes and News 



BIRD NOTES FROM MACEDONIA. 



An officer of the R.A.M.C. sends some 

 notes on the birds of Macedonia to the 

 Hospital (Dec. 12th, 1916) : 



Bird-life on the Macedonian hiUs and plains 

 is very various. The Kestrel is bound to 

 attract the attention of any traveller, for 

 this beautiful Httle Hawk is plentiful and 

 exceedingly confiding. It is a common sight 

 to see six or eight of them hovering in a 

 group over some reach of stubble. Seen 

 closely, as they are here, the beauty of their 

 plumage and the grace with which they sweep 

 and glide across the wind are very charming. 

 I believe they chiefly feed on grasshoppers. 



" In the ravines that cut across the country 

 and have in them water and a lush growth 

 of rushes, scrub, and willow-herb, and also 

 in the marshy ground down by the lakes and 

 rivers, a brown Hawk, large, rather ragged- 

 looking, and floppy of flight, is common. It 

 rises in front of my horse as it pushes through 

 the tangle of marsh growth, and flops away 

 slowly close to the tops of the reeds. I 

 believe it to be the Marsh Harrier, a bird 

 once common in the English fens. Kites, 

 Vultures, and a nearly white scavenger with 



a yellow beak, common in India, all are 

 plentiful. 



" The number and variety of the Crow 

 tribe is very astonishing. Magpies are every- 

 where, often in flocks of twenty or thirty ; 

 Jackdaws in huge flocks like Rooks in 

 England. Rooks do not exist here so far as 

 I know. There are great numbers of the 

 Hooded Crow, many Carrion Crows, and a 

 goodly number of Ravens. A very common 

 bird is the Roller, often called the Blue Jay 

 on account of a superficial resemblance to 

 that bird. It is a solitary and insectivorous 

 bird of dull appearance as it sits motionless 

 on some low bush, but when it opens its 

 wings in flight it reveals a surprising and 

 beautiful display of bright blue feathers. 

 From a point of vantage, such as a bush or 

 telegraph wire, it dashes suddenly down to 

 catch its insect prey. 



" The Hoopoe is very plentiful, but much 

 less confiding than in India. 



" Storks are very plentiful. They have 

 huge nests on the houses or in tall trees. 

 When I arrived in Macedonia the young had 

 left the nests, but the parent pairs have not 

 deserted their homes, for often a pair may 

 be seen standing solemnly and still, side by 

 side, as if ruminating on the fate of the off- 

 spring that had forsaken it." 



Economic Ornithology. 



THE WINDHOVER. 

 By the Hon, Gladys Graham Murray. 



The little Kestrel is the commonest of all 

 Hawks and Falcons and is to be found all 

 over Britain. To a certain extent the 

 Kestrel is resident with us, but in the North 

 of Scotland it migrates for the winter, 

 whilst even in the South there is probably 

 a good deal of interchanging among the 

 birds, some crossing over to the Continent, 

 whilst their place is taken by other birds 

 who have come from more northerly districts. 

 In the bygone days of falconry the 

 Kestrel was but little used on account of 

 its sulky and indocile nature, but the 

 Eastern falconers appear to have trained 

 it with better success than their Western 

 confreres. 



The Kestrel appears as a master in the 

 art of flight. To watch the bird poised 

 in mid-air as though suspended on an 

 invisible thread, as with vibrating ^vings 

 and tail spread wide, it hangs 'twixt sky 

 and earth, is to watch flight in its most 

 beautiful aspect ; the wings vibrate so 

 rapidly as to appear motionless, then with 

 a sudden plunge it drops doTv-n in search 

 of its quarry. The " Windhover "is an 

 apt nicloiame for this " lord of the air." 

 When in quest of its food the bird quartern 

 the ground in a systematic fashion. With 

 a free and powerful flight it circles around 

 in wide sweeps, now soaring, now winging 

 ahead through the azure blue, and then 

 suddenly closing its wings and tail and 

 dropping to earth. When actually hunting 



