VOL. VI.] LETTERS. 321 



SENSE OF SMELL IN THE STONE-CURLEW. 

 To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — In reference to Dr. Penrose's " Field-Notes on a Pair of 

 Stone-Curlews," in the last number (pp. 266-9), I had a somewhat simi- 

 lar experience to the author's one day when photographing a Stone- 

 Curlew's nest on the Hampshire Downs. My camera was hidden 

 in tufts of grass and was provided with an electric release leading 

 fifteen yards away to a blind or hide composed of branches where I 

 lay hidden for a considerable time, with the wind blowing from the 

 camera towards me. One of the parent birds returned and began 

 the VLSual wandering aroimd the nest-area, and wa.s about to settle 

 on her eggs when the wind suddenly changed, as it often does on the 

 Downs, and blew directly from me towards the bird. She suddenly 

 straightened herself and cautiously approached my blind, somewhat 

 after the manner of a pointer dog drawing on a point. She came close 

 up and actually peered through the leaves in front of my face, then 

 flew off uttering startled cries. I am quite siu'e the bird scented me. 



In my opinion birds, as a rule, have very weak olfactory powers. 

 Dr. Penrose mentions ducks as having this power fairly developed, 

 but in my experience their sense of smell is not acute. For instance, 

 I have drifted in my punt before the wind within forty or fifty yards 

 of a flock without being detected. J. E. H. Kelso. 



THE SWALLOW RECOVERED IN NATAL. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — If there was no other result of the Scheme for Ringing Birds 



organised by Mr. Witherby, the Swallow record from Natal is sufficient 



reward. May I, in this East African connection, draw attention to the 



Swift which was foimd dead in New Ross, co. Wexford, in May, 1886, 



with a piece of paper tied to it bearing the inscription " Mary Elsam, 



Suakin, Egypt, 10.3.86 " ? As I interviewed the man who found the 



bird and am satisfied the occurrence took place as above-stated, it 



may do no harm to mention this event, though already recorded in 



the Birds of Ireland, p. 103. Richard M. Barrington. 



[We have always regarded the record of the Swift with a piece of 

 paper " tied imder its tail " as having origin in a practical joke, perhaps 

 perpetrated by a soldier recently returned from the Soudan. Is there 

 any proof that the piece of paper was not tied on after the Swift's 

 death ? What proof is there that it was tied on at Suakin ? As the 

 Mahdi was in possession of the Soudan at the time and had advanced 

 not far from Suakin, it may have been a clumsy attempt to make 

 people suppose that one Mary ELsam was imprisoned there. But such 

 " records," being of no scientific value whatever, should not be seriously 

 considered. — Eds.] 



