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 LETTERS. 



FLEAS AND BEETLES LN^ OLD :N^ESTS OF BIRDS. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — With reference to Mr. Masefield's note {antea, p. 270), fleas 

 may generally be found in Tit's nests in the winter, and during the 

 first few warm days in spring may be seen waiting in numbers outside 

 the hole ready to jump on to anything moving near. If a Tit's nest 

 be examined when the fuU clutch of eggs has just been laid, a large 

 number of a small beetle {Microglossa puUa Gyll.) may generally be 

 found in it : the larva of this beetle probably feeds on the larva of 

 the flea. Another member of the same genus {M. nidicola Fairm.) is 

 confined to, and may nearly always be found in the nests of the 

 Sand-Martin ; this bird, like several others, has a flea peculiar to it. 

 The beetle larva seen by Mr. JMasefield was probably of Choleva fumata 

 Spence, a beetle foimd commonly in almost any kind of nest, and in 

 other situations. For further information on the subject of the 

 insect-inhabitants of old birds' nests, see a note of mine in the Ento- 

 mologists' Monthly Magazine, Vol. XVI., p. 2.39. 



Nor:man H. Joy. 



Bradfield, Berks, February, 1914. 



BAER'S POCHARD IN NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — ^As the information re Baer's Pochards which you have 

 quoted from my letter, though accurate, is put in such a way as to 

 be rather misleading, may I ask you to publish this letter ? 



When you asked me whether the duck shot in 1911 could have 

 come from Woburn, I informed you that two pinioned birds had 

 lived on one of om* ponds for many years. These birds disappeared 

 one after the other about four years ago, and we presumed they 

 had died. During the years they lived here they never wandered 

 from their pond and seldom if ever left one end of it. In my letter 

 to you I stated that these were the only Baer's Ducks we had 

 imported, but I ascertaind shortly afterwards from my son that he 

 turned down a pair last year (1913), and advised you accordingly. 



Rare ducks are not dropped promiscuouslj^ upon our ponds by 

 anyone wishing to find a home for them, and unless imported by 

 the Duke of Bedford or Lord Tavistock, we assume that we do not 

 possess them. It seems to me therefore, that it is impossible that 

 the unpinioned bird shot on the Trent in 1911 can have come from 

 here. M. Bedford > 



AVoBTTRN Arbkv, Bkdfqrdshire, February 11 th. 1914. 



