70 



Bird Notes and News 



The phenomenally long and "bitter winter 

 through Avhich we have passed (or hope to 

 have passed by the time these lines are in 

 print) has been a terrible one for birds, 

 especially the insectivorous species, which 

 have died by the thousands and tens of 

 thousands, in the country. The Thrush 

 family and the Plovers appear to have 

 suffered especially," Though each household 

 might," as the Times comments, " have 

 made its garden a centre of salvation for the 

 feathered folk of a small area around, and 

 have enjoyed the rich reward of the presence 

 of unusual visitors at the bird table ; all 

 this would scarcely touch the fringe of the 

 enveloping calamity which falls upon wild- 

 bird -Ufe in Britain whenever a long spell of 



severe weather comes in winter In 



gardens where no bird table attracts its 

 pensioners the silent absence of bird-Hfe is 

 almost oppressive." No member of the 

 R.S.P.B., it may be safely said, neglected 

 such of the little hungry folk as could be 

 kept alive by generous provision of scraps 

 of every kind : how indeed could he or she 

 face the dire possibility of potato and bread 

 famines within the home who had not done 

 something to save other beings from starva- 

 tion ? Perhaps the biggest family to assist 

 was that which invaded the garden of a 

 bird-lover near the Lancashire coast, where 

 a screaming, scrambling, turbulent cloud 

 of three hundred Gulls were for some days 

 applicants for out-rehef — and got it. The 

 Curator of Ipswich Museum counted some 

 thirty GuUs at one time in his garden, but 

 after the experience of the Society's Hon. 

 Secretary at Blundellsands this seems a 

 negligible number ! 



He 4= 4: 



The protracted winter has necessarily 

 delayed nesting. Thrush, Blackbird, and 

 Dunnock had begun to sing when the March 

 frenzy arrested their melodies ; but their 

 lover's raptures had taken them no further. 

 Now, however, the time has come when all 

 Nesting boxes should be securely fixed on 

 wall or tree ready for house-hunting couples ; 

 and as many enquiries have reached the 

 office of the R.S.P.B. on the subject, it may 

 be said that the " Tree-hole " boxes (with 

 aU the notable Berlepsch features) and the 

 " Walden " boxes, may still be had from 

 the Society, difficulties as to wood and 

 workers notwithstanding. 



"HTiile the allusions made by many poets 

 to bird Kfe have been quoted and commented 

 on again and again, little reference has been 

 made to the feeling for birds shown by Dante 

 and the references to them scattered up and 

 down the Divine Comedy. They afford a 

 charming chapter in a thoughtful little 

 volume '•' Corona Stellata " which has been 

 added to Dante literature by Miss Isa J. 

 Postgate. 



DORSET BIRDS. 



From Weymouth, Mr. H. P. Wilkes writes : 

 The history of the birds of Dorset abounds 

 in instances of some of our rarer visitors ; 

 Weymouth and the neighbouring locality 

 seems to be particularly favoured. Such 

 birds as the Pratincole, the Avocet, the 

 Hoopoe and the Grey Phalarope have been 

 recorded in the vicinity, the last-mentioned 

 sometimes coming in " considerable 

 numbers." It was only last spring (1916) 

 that I had news of a jDair of Golden Orioles 

 and their nest a few miles distant, and up to 

 not long ago Hobbies used to nest regularly 

 at Bloxworth. Among Dorset's resident 

 birds can be numbered the Peregrine, which 

 has several haunts along the sea-coast, from 

 St. Alban's Head away to Torquay and the 

 Start Point in Devon : one pair, breeding in 

 the immediate locality have had a somewhat 

 chequered career. The nest was the usual 

 hollow scraped on the steep sides of a grassy 

 cliff in company with the nests of Herring 

 GuUs and an occasional Rock-Dove : a short 

 time ago, however, some fishermen dis- 

 covered the monetary value of the eggs and 

 from then until now, clutches have been 

 taken every year. Last year the Peregrine 

 moved to its nesting-site to a long fissure in 

 a perpendicular face of rock, but even here 

 the ruthless hand of man has reached by 

 means of rope. The Rock-Doves (true 

 C. livia), at best a very local species as a 

 pure breed; are on the decrease owing to the 

 depredations of the falcon ; Guillemot, 

 Razorbill and Puffin, however, do not seem 

 to be molested and breed in moderate 

 numbers. I have found the Rock Pipit's 

 nest here in June with a second clutch of 

 three, and the birds themselves are more 

 numerous than one is led to suppose. Wheat- 

 ears, Whinchats, Stonechats, Cora and 

 Cirl Buntings are also to be found, with 



