Review.



65



trees, and one year a large party of them stayed about two hours.

However, they did not like the place and it remained for a pair of

crows to try their luck three years ago. The pair nested in some

tall elms with hollow trunks and all seemed well; but, later on, we

found three dead youngsters fully feathered in various parts of the

garden. The following year they tried again in the next tree, and

this time one live youngster was found below the tree and its parents

fed it for some days in a cage, and then it died. This year the

parents have moved to a tree at some distance. Now it seemed to

me that the rooks in council were wise enough to avoid those trees

while the crows were not. But lately Mr. Kay Robinson told me

that the matter is probably attributable to the brown owls, which

we have for some time suspected of living in these trees, and their

presence may also account for the desertion of this place by the

jackdaws which always used to nest there.


I fancy, however, that the owls are not completely happy, as

1 turned out a pair of squirrels two years ago, which reared a family

of three. It seems that they also took a fancy to these hollow trees,

for the owls now frequently hoot during the day, which may be a

sign that all is not peace at home, and there is little doubt that this

is due to the squirrels, who, as everybody knows, are selfish enough

to sacrifice the convenience of others to the gratification of their own

small wishes.


I find that I have forgotten to mention the cuckoo, which is

generally heard, but, as far as I know, has not been seen in our

garden. _



REVIEW.



BRITISH BIRDS. Thorburn.


[BRITISH Birds, written and illustrated by A. Thorburn, F.Z.S. With 80

plates in colour, showing over 400 species. In four vols. Vol. II.

Longmans, Green & Co., 39, Paternoster Row, London, 1915].


The second volume has been published (£1 11s. 6d.) maintain¬

ing the excellency of the first, and deals with crows, larks, swifts,

nightjars, woodpeckers and cuckoos : whilst owls and other birds of

prey occupy an important portion. The frontispiece of the golden



