14 



Bird Notes and News 



Notes. 



The Right Rev. Arnold H. Mathew writes 

 to the Society, from Walmer, May 1 2th : 



" It may interest your readers to hear that a 

 rare visitor to England has successfully brought 

 off a nest of young in my garden this spring, viz., 

 the Red-breasted Flycatcher {Muscicarpa parva). 

 I have not previously heard of the nesting of this 

 species in this country, and I think the specimens 

 that have been shot by collectors have uusally 

 appeared at the end of summer. 



" The bird is very like an undersized Robin, 

 but the breast-feathers are of a much brighter 

 orange-chestnut, and the outer tail-feathers are 

 white tipped with black. The nest, which is said to 

 be found usually in beech-trees, and to be placed 

 on a branch against the trunk or in a hole, was 

 in this instance at the end of the branch of a 

 fir-tree, farthest from the trunk, and appeared 

 to be an old nest relined and repaired. Un- 

 fortunately, after the young birds had flown, a 

 strong wind blew the nest into the adjoining road, 

 where it was destroyed before I could recover it." 



This very Robin-Ul'-.e little Flycatcher is 

 scarcely bigger than the Blue Tit, and its 

 song is said by Dresser to resemble that of 

 the Wood-Wren. Its young are not generally, 

 hatched until June, but there is no previous 

 record for Great Britain. 



Touching reference was made, at the 

 December meeting of the Ligue Fran^aise 

 pour la Protection des Oiseaux (reported 

 in the April Bulletin) to the great loss sus- 

 tained by the Society in the death of its 

 founder and president, M. Magaud d'Aubus- 

 son. In the absence on mihtary service 

 of both Secretaries and Treasurer, the work 

 of the Ligue had fallen mainly upon him 

 and been prosecuted vigorously under the 

 most difficult conditions. The R.S.P.B. will 

 join in deploring the death of this eminent 

 Bird -Protector ; it is not many years since, 

 on a brief stay in England, he paid it a 

 friendly visit. 



Strange new diseases have been cropping 

 up of late ; and others may be anticipated 

 if all the suggestions of poison-drenches 

 for fruit-trees, poison for Sparrows, poison 

 and poison-^^rus for rats, are carried out- 

 " There is every likelihood of a bad attack 



of caterpillars on fruit trees this year," 

 says Food Production Leaflet No. 32 ; most 

 fruit-tree growers have realised tliis thorough- 

 ly by now ; and " growers should keep a 

 sharp look-out for them just as the buds are 

 opening." Unfortunately, growers have not 

 the eyes and beaks of birds, and caimot 

 spend the days, as birds would do, in insect- 

 hunting. But the Board of Agriculture 

 puts its trust in arsenate of lead and nicotine, 

 both deadly poisons. It is not well to eat 

 gooseberries sprayed with lead -arsenate, nor 

 to dine on vegetables grown under the drip 

 of the bushes " until at least a month has 

 elapsed," "" nor must trees in full bloom be 

 sprayed ; otherwise Bees and other insects, 

 useful in pollenating flowers may be killed." 



Strychnine-flavoured wheat is evidently 

 still favoured by local authorities, in spite 

 of the proliibition of the Food Controller, 

 for the Food Production Department has 

 not withdrawn its abominable proposal to 

 put down strychnine for House-sparrows. 

 " Let farmers take some wheat to the 

 chemist and ask him to treat it with a solution 

 of strychnine sulphate. The rest is easy," 

 wrote one of these worthies in a Derbyshire 

 paper. Quite easy to destroy any number 

 of useful birds ; but not humane, not legal, 

 and not wise. As regards rats, the Board 

 of Agriculture has a good word for the 

 services of " Owls, Hawks, Buzzards, Rooks, 

 Cro-R's, Ravens, Sea-Gulls, Stoats and 

 Weasels " ; but the use of bread, maize 

 meal and oatmeal (let the Food Controller 

 note) treated with strj'chnine, phosphorus, 

 arsenic or barium carbonate is freely com- 

 mended. Enteritis among human beings, it 

 is acknowledged, has been caused by use 

 of rat virus. Some persons may think that 

 the use of " human food " flavoured by 

 corrosive poison for kiUing a rat is almost as 

 deplorable as the use of crusts and scraps 

 to keep ali'^e a Gull or a Rook, and more 

 dangerous to the community. 



The birds have been well avenged by the 

 direful outcry as to insect pests on and in 



