On the Long-Tailed Titmouse and others. 175


birds died, and the wild fowl suffered most of all, all the water being

frozen over with a thick layer of ice (autos over the Zuiderzee !). I

hear lots of wild duck of many species were picked up dead or

dying. Any amount of Blackbirds died here in my park, although

they were fed when possible. The poor Waterhens were seen every¬

where the picture of misery.


My redbreasted Goose that I told you had been operated on, has

recovered, I am glad to say.


There is a plague of Starlings; thousands upon thousands go

to sleep in my bamboos and in the shrubbery, spoiling everything.

So far I have not been able to get rid of them. I wonder what they


find to feed on. Those that were killed are-fat! I picked up a


dead Kingfisher that always frequented my pond near the house ;

very sad ! The pair of them had a sad mishap last summer. They

had a nest with eggs (quite a lot) in a bank a little above waters mark,

and then the waters rose abnormally (result of the war) and swamped

the poor Kingfishers. They were not drowned, but the eggs were lost!


THE LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE, AND

OTHERS.


By Hubert D. Astley.


This appallingly severe winter must have been the means

of destroying countless birds of many species, but probably none

have suffered more than the lovely little Long-tailed Titmice.


Mr. Galloway wrote to say that he believed, as far as he could

judge, that they are all done for in the neighbourhood of Reading, the

long frost, with the piercing easterly gales, having been too much

for such frail little bodies. It is now that they should have been

building their wonderful nests, certainly structures to excite one’s

admiration in any case, but that admiration is enhanced when one

thinks of the minute bills which carry the materials and shape them

so compactly. Nature and mankind seem to have gathered themselves

up of late for a universal crusade of destruction ; as for the birds, it

will be some time before they can recover their normal numbers.


The middle of March! I have not heard a Missel-Thrush

tune up yet, and not until the 13th did I catch the sound of a Song-

Thrush’s notes. The snowdrops were in full bloom at that date where,

in other winters, they are nearly over, and hardly a crocus to be seen,


13 $



