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In captivity, I believe it is possible to keep a Robin in

health far longer than three years ; and, therefore, I hope to be

more fortunate with my present Redstart, than with any of its

predecessors ; none of which, I think, has lived with me for

more than about two years.


I do not doubt that the majority of male Robins are

parricides, fighting with and murdering their fathers, as soon as

they have become vigorous enough, and their male parents

feeble enough, to render the result of a combat a foregone

conclusion. Is this also the case with Redstarts ? I fear it is the

case not only with these, but with many other birds ; probably

with Blackbirds, which one sees grappling, fiercely pecking, and

tumbling over in the dust, regardless of all else, but the desire

to kill one another. This struggle for existence is necessary now,

to enable all the young birds which are born to live; if the older

did not go to the wall, the feeding grounds would not be

sufficient to supply the needs of the rising generation : so the

birds, which might have been caught and petted, are condemned,

by the present law of England, to be slaughtered by their own

offspring. Man often muddles when he tries to help nature : this

country will onl} 7 maintain a constantly decreasing number of

birds; they must eat in order to live; and where their food is

not to be found, no law that ever was framed will induce them to

settle. Goldfinches, say the ignorant, are becoming scarce,

because of the birdcatchers: not a bit of it ; they are plentiful

as ever, but not here; because of the incessant building on all

pleasant places, and all waste ground ; because of the wholesale

levelling of copses and spinneys, and the mowing down of acres

of thistles and hard-heads. The Goldfinches arrive in their

myriads as aforetime, and they cry to one another, “Where are

the desired habitations of former years ? Where are the pleasant

woodlands which our fathers have spoken of? The land of

England has become a waste wilderness of bricks and stucco,

where no sensible Goldfinch may find rest for the soles of his

feet.” Therefore they pass on to lands less civilized, and more

congenial : and so shall it be with the Redstart and many others.



THE BURROWING OWL.


Speotyto cu?iicula)ia (Mol.).


By D. Seth-Smith, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.


Most of us remember the story, told to us in our child¬

hood days, of the little Owl of the American prairies, which

lived with the prairie dog and the rattlesnake, and how the latter



