THE OSPREY. 



159 



but it bears on its face the evidence of good 

 faith and veracity, and seems to be of sufficient 

 interest to be exhumed for the benefit of the 

 tit generation. 



The bird appears to have lived for considera- 

 bly over 4ii years, and commenced its career 

 in the first half of the eighteenth century. 



Twenty-two specimens of a Kittiwake Gull 

 A'; i t ; tridactyla) were marked with a "J" and 

 liberated in Franz Josef Land in 1* - Ibis, 



1898, pp. 268 171; I >SPREY, 1899, p. 147. We are 

 not aware that the finding of any of them has 

 been recorded. 



"A great many years ago. a gentleman caught 

 a fine Gull [vulgo a fea maw.) whose wings he 

 cut. and put it in his garden, to clear the - 

 and other vermin of that sort. The bird re- 

 mained in that situation for several years: and 

 being kindly used, it became very familiar. -•> 

 as to come, upon a call, to be fed at the kitchen 

 door. It was known by the name of Willie. 

 This bird became at last so tame, that no care 

 wa> taken to preserve it: and its wings having 

 grown to full length, it flew away, joined the 

 other Gulls upon the beach, and came back from 

 time to time to pay a visit to the house. It fol- 

 lowed its companions, however, when they left 

 this country: at which the family were much 

 disconcerted. To their great joy. however, it 

 returned with them the next season: and with 

 its usual familiarity returned to its old haunt, 

 where it was welcomed with great joy, and fed 

 very liberally with the garbage of fish, 

 favourite food. In this way it went and return- 

 ed for forty years without intermission, and 

 kept up its acquaintance in the most cordial 

 manner: for. while in the country, it visited 

 them almost daily, answering to its name. like 

 any domestic animal, and ate almost out of the 

 hand. One year, however, very near the period 

 of its final disappearance. Willie did not pay 

 his respects to the family for eight or ten days 

 after the general flock of Gulls were upon the 

 coast; and great was the lamentation for his 

 as they naturally concluded he must be 

 dead. The gentleman from whom I had this 

 fact, happened to be there on a visit at that time. 

 and was witness to and cordially joined in I 

 regret. But to the great joy of the whole family. 

 a servant came running into the room one 

 morning, while they were at breakfast, in 

 ecstasy, calling out that Willie had returned. 

 The whose company got up from the table im- 



mediately, to welcome Willie, and the humane 

 guest among the rest. Food was soon found in 

 abundance: and Willie, with his usual frank- 

 f it heartily, and was as tame as any 

 barn-yard fowl about the house. In a year or 

 two afterwards, this graceful bird discontinued 

 his visits for ever, so that they concluded that 

 he must be dead: but whether of old age. or from 

 accidental causes, could never be ascertained. 

 I did not learn that they discovered any symp- 

 toms of decriptitude or decline in this animal, 

 seemingly the effects of .-, . 



An Outwitted Kingbird. While taking a 



spin on the Aqueduct road. July 4. 1897, I 



noticed a Cicada leaving a tree to cross the 



nac. It had only proceeded a short dis- 



when a Kingbird gave chase. Jus 



the bird was on the point of capturing the in- 



tnd so charac- 

 teristic of the species, startling the Kingbird 

 and thus gaining several feel before t lie bird 

 continued his pursuit. This performance was 

 repeated a number of times and enabled the 

 i to regain the shelter of the same tree 

 which it had left a few moments before, 



His Kingbirdship was outwitted for once. — 



Bartsch. 



a Delaying Kingfisher. In the editorial 

 of 'I'm: Osprey for September it was stated 

 that the name Carciiieutes, applied to a peculiar 

 oriental genus of Kingfishers, should give place 

 In the Popular Science Monthly for 

 November the generally accepted name is used 

 for the typical species of the genus Lacedo 

 metanops. In an article on "the Omen Animals 

 of Sarawak" by Prof. A. C Had. '.on. it is stated 

 that the bird called •Membuas' in Borneo, which 

 ••lives in the jungle, is not a particularly lucky 

 bird. If. when they are making a trap, the 

 [bans hear the long, mournful whistle of the 

 •Membuas." they know that, although the trap 

 will catch things, it will only be after an inter- 

 val of ten to fourteen days that they will have 

 any luck. On other occasions it is not unusual 

 for them to catch little partridges, such as Rol- 

 lultis roulroul, directly they have set up the trap, 

 but often, under ordinary circumstances, it will 

 1j.' a day before they catch anything." 



Tile lack of luck, by the way. is not to the 

 detriment of the bird but to that of the man! 



Letters. 



FOWL HYBRIDS AND VANISHING HIKps. 



SWANWICK, 111.. S,p/. 28, 1901. 



Editors of the < >sprey: 



I send herewith two notes which may be of 

 interest. 



First. In reference to the "Curiosity" men- 

 tioned on page 128 of the August number of the 

 Osprey. 



Some twelve or fifteen years ago. in pursuance 

 of my pastoral work, I called at the house of a 

 widow lady who lived in the "timber" (this i- a 

 prairie country) some distance from my home. 



When about to depart, she said, "stop a minute. 

 I want to show you some odd fowls". I fol- 

 lowed her to the barn-yard, where she showed 

 me two of the strangest fowls I ever saw. They 

 were a cross hybrid, between a "chicken" 

 and a "guinea". She said that a rooster was 

 whipped by another, and that he took up with 

 the guineas and went with them, and that these 

 fowls were hatched from guinea ei_'j, r s. I cannot 

 give the description of them, but if yon can 

 get a specimen from West Virginia, by all 

 means do so, and you will see a genuine "Curi- 

 osity". 



