Bird Notes and News 



75 



Sedge-Warbler and Cuckoo. 



I heard the Sedge-Warbler for the first 

 time in 1914 on April 23rd. I found a nest 

 with one egg on May 16th ; on May 30th 

 there were five eggs, all nearly ready to 

 hatch. On the same day I found a Sedge- 

 Warbler's nest with one chick in it which 

 turned out to be a Cuckoo. At first it 

 looked so very like a young Sedge-Warbler 

 that I did not look for the hollow in its back, 

 nor for its foster-brothers and sisters below 

 the nest ; but the next time I visited the 

 place there was no doubt at all about the 

 identity of the occupant. . . . The nest 

 seemed too small to hold it, in fact it seemed 

 to overflow the nest. When we approached, 

 the young Cuckoo opened its terrifying 

 bright orange beak, and disclosed its scarlet 

 throat. W T hen I put my finger near it made 

 a dart at it, whether thinking it was food 

 or out of pure viciousness I do not know. 

 The next day I returned in the hope of 

 securing a series of photographs. First I 

 took it in the nest, then I thought I could 

 take a good photograph of it perched on a 

 branch. I was quite afraid of it, so put my 

 handkerchief over and grasped it from 

 behind. I then put it on a branch, but 

 the silly thing kept falling off ; at last it 

 kept still and I took my picture. When I 

 put it back in the nest, it would not stay 

 there, so much did it appear to like its new 

 freedom, although wet all over as the result 

 of its falls. At last I managed to make it 

 stay. None of my photographs were success- 

 ful ; I had taken them too hurriedly. . . . 



Sedge- Warblers may sometimes be heard 

 singing quite late at night. The song is not 

 very musical, but the birds sing away with 

 such a will that this deficiency is not noticed. 



The Nightjar. 



Several evenings in May I went out to a 

 place where the Nightjars may be heard, in 

 the hope of hearing one. On May 23rd I 

 waited for about twenty minutes and was 

 on the point of going when over my head 

 glided a bird which uttered short guttural 

 notes which I knew could proceed from no 

 bird but the Nightjar. I followed the 

 direction in which the bird was flying with 

 that rapid silent flight peculiar to Owls and 

 Nightjars, when presently I was delighted 



to hear the more usual note, the long 

 vibrating churr. Three times afterwards I 

 heard the Nightjar, once from my study 

 window at Haileybury, once while out 

 treacling for moths, and once while at camp 

 on Salisbury Plain. 



I have never found a Nightjar's eggs, 

 although I have looked carefully in likely 

 situations. Last year a small friend of 

 mine stumbled upon two beautiful eggs 

 placed only in a scraping in the ground. 

 Several times I must have passed within 

 inches of the eggs, but had not the luck to 

 find them. 



Wryneck. 



On April 12th I first heard the " qui qui 

 qui pay pay " of the Wryneck, but I had 

 some difficulty to get near enough to watch 

 it. The species is, I think, decreasing in 

 the neighbourhood of Haileybury but keeping 

 up its numbers in the Sudbury district. I 

 have heard only one near Haileybury, and 

 that was on Mr. Buxton's estate at Epping. 

 Formerly a pair used to nest in the grounds 

 of the College. The Wryneck very often 

 feeds on the ground as well as searching for 

 insects in the bark of trees. It is very fond 

 of ants and their pupae, and its tongue is 

 specially fitted for catching them. 



C. P. Staples (Christ's Hospital), winner(tie) 

 of the Second Prize, gives the following dates 

 when he first saw the Migrants mentioned 

 in 1914 :— 



Chiff chaff ... 



W T illow-Warbler 



Wheatear 



Whitethroat 



Cuckoo 



Swallow 



Blackcap 



Lesser Whitethroat 



Wryneck 



House-Martin 



Garden-Warbler 



Turtledove . . . 



Nightingale ... 



These are, in most cases, 

 given by any Competitor. 



March 15th 

 March 20th 

 April 2nd 

 April 5th 

 April 12th 

 April 13th 

 April 14th 

 April 14th 

 April 14th 

 April 18th 

 April 21st 

 April 28th 

 May 10th 



the earliest dates 



