LETTERS 



THE MOVEMENTS OF YOUNG ROOKS. 

 To the Editors of British Bieds. 



Sees, — Mr. Walter Stewart raises an interesting point regarding the 

 movements of immature Rooks. In the Windermere district these 

 birds migrate durmg October, and are absent until the end of March 

 or beginning of April. A few feather-faced individuals are then seen 

 about, but the proportion of these to white-faced birds is very small. 



Another question which might be settled by ringing young Rooks 

 is, whether these birds breed in the first year or not. Howard Saunders 

 says that this species does not breed mitil nearly two years old, but in 

 the Field of October 24th, 1908, a correspondent states that when 

 watching Rooks building nests that week (autumn attempts at breeding 

 by this species are not uncommon), he found that all the bu'ds so 

 engaged were immature. I beheve another observer has seen feather- 

 faced Rooks carrying sticks. Personally, though I have frecjuently 

 watched these birds at Rookeries in the breeding-season, no sign of 

 them nesting has been detected, with the exception that I once saw 

 a bird that was undoubtedly breeding which had the face in an inter- 

 mediate condition — only partially bare of the feathers. 



Eric B. Dunlop. 



Sirs, — If your correspondent, Mr. Stewart, succeeds in marking a 

 large number of young Rooks, I think he will find that it is the bill- 

 feathers which go before winter, and not the young Rooks. 



That a few young Rooks retain the feathers after the first autumn 

 moult is undoubtedly the case, but I believe the proportion to be very 

 small. I have kept young Rooks in partial confinement which lost 

 the bill-feathers before the first winter. M. Bedford. 



A BAIKAL TEAL IN DEVONSHIRE. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — It is more than likely that the Baikal Teal reported in the April 

 number of British Birds (p. 348) had escaped from Woburn. We 

 have a large number of full-winged birds, and I counted fifteen flying 

 together a short time ago. M. Bedford. 



Sirs, — I expect we shall soon hear of numerous " British " killed 

 Baikal Teal from the fact that the price of live birds has recently 

 dropped from six or seven guineas per pan- to less than one-third of that 

 sum. I do not know where the dealers obtain their stock, but the 

 market is now full of them. Heatley Noble. 



