nOTES 



INTERBREEDING OF RINO-OUSEL AND 

 BLACKBIRD. 



Mr. Temple Kirkpatrick sends us an account of the inter- 

 breeding of the Ring-Ousel and Blackbird, which took place 

 during the spring of this year in a garden in the Isle of Wight. 



The Ring-Ousel, a hen, passed the winter in this garden and 

 in the spring paired with a Blackbird and built a nest (like a 

 Blackbird's) in a holly bush about eight feet from the ground, 

 near a window. The eggs, unfortucately, were not examined, 

 but the young, it is curious to remark, are said to have been 

 " larger than their parents " ; and, what is more strange, they 

 are said to have had a "more powerful and more melodious note 

 than the Blackbird, sufficiently so as to be at once distinguished 

 when the bird was out of sight," but it must be remembered 

 that the song of the Ring-Ousel is but a harsh echo of that 

 of the Blackbird. 



Mr. Kirkpatrick did not himself see the young birds, and in 

 consequence is unable to describe their appearance, but he did 

 see the female and satisfied himself that it was a Ring-Ousel. 



" The family in whose garden the Ring-Ousel is," he write?, 

 " are diligent observers of birds and intimately acquainted with 

 Ring-Ousels." 



From the diary which has been kept, it appears that this bird 

 has been tept under observation since January, 1907. 



Rare as such a union as this appears to be, it is indeed a 

 matter for surprise that this same family should be able to 

 record a similar case which occurred in their garden when living 

 in South Devon four or five years ago, and here again the 

 Ring-Ousel was a female. 



It is on this account that we somehow suspect that, after all, 

 some mistake may have been made — the coincidence is very 

 strange. Moreover the description of the offspring, meagre 

 though it is, somehow does not seem satisfactory. At any rate 

 one cannot but express surprise that they should have been 

 larger than their parents and have possessed a more melodious 

 note. — Eds. 



COMBINED NEST OF WHITETHROAT AND HEDGE. 

 SPARROW. 



Mr. G. T. Dennys lately gave me a nest which undoubtedly 

 combines the characteristics of those of the Common White- 



