Bird Notes and News 



111 



Correspondence. 



From the Rev. J. G. Tuck :— 



" The other day I met a man (not a 

 naturalist) who had been out with a local 

 Field Club for a bird-walk. He said they 

 had seen among other things, several Linnets 

 and a birdcatcher. I said, ' You ought to 

 have killed him.' ' Why,' said my friend, 

 ' what harm does he do ? ' I began to 

 expound on the destruction of birdlife, the 

 devastation of the countryside, and so on. 

 ' Oh,' he interjected, ' Yes, yes. That is 

 not what I meant. I am not much of a bird 

 man. I didn't mean a birdcatcher ; I meant 

 a flycatcher ! '" 



From the Rev. G. Egerton Warburton : — 



" In the early part of May last year (1914) 

 a single Gold-crest made his appearance 

 in the garden. For some time I only knew 

 he was there by his gossiping note, as he 

 spent most of his time in the thick yews 

 and hollies and it was difficult to catch sight 

 of him. After a while, however, he took to 

 hunting in the tops of the oaks and Spanish 

 chestnuts, and I used often to watch him, 

 so quick and so busy and singing so joyously 

 all the time his little simple song. He was 

 seldom still for more than a few seconds ; 

 but one day he came to a bough close to 

 where I was standing and for a considerable 

 time sat there preening his feathers and 

 uttering short snatches of song, almost 

 within reach of my hand. 



" He was always alone, and though his 

 favourite haunt was among the yews in 

 the churchyard, yet on whatever side of the 

 garden one might happen to be, there he 

 was certain to come before long. 



" It was a great pleasure to have him here. 

 I used to listen for him every morning and 

 he never failed me, until one day in the end 

 of June, when on the following morning he 

 was found on the churchyard path and was 

 brought to me. He was alive and warm and 

 apparently uninjured and his black eyes 

 were still bright. I held the little mite for 



some time between my hands, but I could 

 see that his race was almost run and it was 

 not long before he quietly passed away. I 

 was glad if he was to die that he should have 

 so peaceful and painless an end and that I 

 should know it, but I cannot say how 

 much I missed him, it was almost absurd to 

 think what a friend he had become to me ! 



" Under the trees in whose tops he had 

 spent so many joyous hours of his short life 

 here, I dug a grave for the tiny bunch of 

 feathers, all that was left now, the cast-off 

 garment of the glad spirit that had gone." 



From Mr. W. B. Lasham : — 



" Amongst the feathered folk who have 

 successfully reared their families in my garden 

 were some Robins, who built their nest on a 

 pergola covered with clematis ; and in due 

 course one morning their babies left home, 

 causing considerable anxiety to their friends. 

 Later in the morning I was occupied for a 

 short time in our shed at bottom of garden, 

 when my attention was called to the extra- 

 ordinary behaviour of one of the parents, 

 who came close to the open door, making 

 piteous signs of distress and alarm. I left 

 what I was doing and went to the door. The 

 little creature then retreated, by stages, still 

 making signs of distress, in the direction 

 of a small galvanized iron bath, which we 

 keep for gardening purposes and which 

 was about half full of water. In the midst 

 of this I found one of the baby robins 

 floundering in a stage of exhaustion. I took 

 the little mite out, when all signs of alarm 

 ceased from the parent bird, who was 

 close by, watching operations from a branch 

 of a cherry tree. After drying the youngster 

 I put it in the sun on the lawn, where soon 

 after it was visited and fed by its parents 

 and fully recovered, soon fluttering away. 



" I have known and read of animals 

 appealing for human aid, but never of birds, 

 who I think in this case unmistakeably said, 

 ' Please come and save my child.'' " 



