The Oologists' Record, December i, 1921. * 95 



always liable to Angoui raids just as the grain ripened. But years 

 of peace have trebled the native population, naturally prolific ; more 

 firewood is wanted every year both for natixf and European domestic 

 use, and also for the railway engines and the settlers' tobacco barns. 

 The countryside is burnt afresh every dry season, so that quite 

 apart from the direct destruction of bird-life, the undergrowth gets 

 no chance to grow and provide nesting places. More and more land 

 is cleared for tobacco, cotton and native crops. The swarms of 

 waterfowl which bred in the swamps of Chilwa and Pamalombe are 

 rapidly disappearing before the sportsman and pot-hunter. Last, 

 but not least, must be mentioned the proclivity of the small native 

 boy to turn every living thing into " chakudya " (food). Nothing 

 comes amiss to him, from an addled bustard's egg to a nestfuU of 

 fledgling finches with the mother snared on the nest. There is 

 something to be set on the other side of the account. Natives have 

 been removed from some of the hills, where a new growth of indi- 

 genous trees is springing up fast, and there are large plantations of 

 eucalyptus about the townships and most European homesteads. 

 But this only seems to advantage the crows, and in general the 

 Shire Highlands and contiguous areas are witnessing a grievous 

 diminution of their bird-life. 



C. F. B. 



NOTES ON SOME OF THE RARER BRITISH BIRDS 

 WHICH BREED IN DENMARK. 



By C. F. A. RiTSON. 



In 191 2, in company with a friend, I had a couple of weeks 

 nesting in West Jutland — that part of Denmark lying to the w^est, 

 which is washed by the North Sea. The country there is extremel}- 

 flat, and consists of ling, delta and damp meadowland, intersected 

 by water channels and swamps ; whilst in the neighbourhood of the 

 Ringkjobing Fjord and the mouth of the sluggish Skjernaa, there 

 are numerous small islands and immense tracts of reeds, the whole 

 forming a perfect retreat for ground-building species. Most of the 

 bird colonies are on government ground and strictl}^ preserved, and 

 it is necessary to obtain a permit from the Danish Ministry of 

 Agriculture in order to visit them. Without a permit one can do 



