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MORTALITY AMONG BIRDS DURING THE 

 FEBRUARY FROST IN WEST CORNWALL. 



BY 



H. M. WALLIS. 



Until the last week in January; 1917, the weather was 

 genial. On the 17th, and again on the 24th, a Phylluscopus, 

 probably a Chiffchaff, and almost certainly the same liird, 

 was taking flies off the surface of a running brook at Helston. 

 After the latter date frost set in atid the small creature was 

 seen no more. 



Probably owing to some change in habit of moles and mice 

 during snow, there was a complete alteration in the behaviour 

 of a Barn-Owl, which relinquished its daylight quarterings 

 of a rushy marsh, and perchings upon the ground beside 

 drains. Since the snow went he has resumed his beat, 



Large flocks of Lapwing and Black-headed Gull appeared, 

 increasing as the frost hardened and far exceeding their food 

 supply. Lapwings haunted the town rubbish-tips and dis- 

 puted morsels with the Gulls, Jackdaws and Starlings, but 

 came off badly. They frequented little town gardens, tripping 

 feebly on tiny grass-plots in fr-ont of suburban houses, pecking 

 among gooseberry-bushes at the back, constantly chased by 

 lapdogs, but constantly returning. They came to the windows 

 for food, and died in gardens, beside roads, and in every 

 field, and along frozen drains. 



Black-headed Gulls alighted in the princi]:)al street of Helston 

 by six and seven at a flight. I saw Song-Thrush, Jackdaw, 

 Starling, Meadow-Pipit, Chaffinch and Pied and Grey Wagtail 

 in Coinagehall Street at different times during the frost. 



Redwings swarmed, but neither they nor Fieldfares ac- 

 commodated themselves to the conditions, or grew bold. 

 The}' died in incalculable numbers in ditches and woods. 



Small birds of prey had the times of their lives. I counted 

 four headless Redwing lying beneath one bough, presumal:)]y 

 the work of a cock Sparrow-Hawk which was much in 

 evidence. Other jDredacious birds, possibly Magpie and Jay, 

 both present, sucked the brains of countless Redwing ; there 

 was little else on the bodies worth eating. Blackbirds suffered 

 in the same manner, chiefly hens, or birds of the year. Starlings 

 likewise. 



During one Avalk I coinited ninety-five cor^ises. Eighteen 

 lay stranded at one bend of a stream and nine more a little 

 farther on. These were not small birds, but Lapwing, Black- 

 headed.. Common and (one) Herring Gull. The bodies lav 



