CORESPONDENCE. 227 



Cuckoo. — In answer to your correspondent " N.'s" enquiry, {p. 198,) 

 I beg to say it is quite common for the cuckoo to repeat the first part of 

 its note, or cry six or seven times in rapid succession just before its 

 departure from our island ; in fact, the cry " N." refei's to is a sure 

 indication of the bird being about to leave us. I cannot give a reason 

 for it. It may, perhaps, be interesting to some to know that I have 

 obtained a cuckoo's egg in the south of England as early as March 3rd, 

 though the bird is seldom heard to utter " cuckoo" tUl about the 14th or 

 15th of April ; and for some days after that the sound is exceedingly 

 hoarse and indistinct. — J. E. Thompson, Tamworth. 



Redpoll. — In answer to Mr. Eothera, although it must be 

 conceded that properly speaking the lesser redpoll, comnaon redpole, 

 lesser redpole linnet, pea hnnet, which are some of the common 

 names for Linaria i-ufescens, (Viell.,) is the bird we intend when speaking 

 of the "redpoll," yet arguing from analogous cases the Act would, I 

 think, be found to embrace all bix-ds coming under the general term 

 "redpoll," i.e., the "common," "gray" or "brown" hnnet, Linaria 

 cannahina, (L.,) which is really a " greater" redpoll, the L. rufescens 

 instanced above, and also the mealy redpoU, L. canescens, (Grid.) — 

 Montagu Bkowne. 



Okxithological Notes. — The time is coming when the song of the 

 birds mostly ceases. We have still, however, some of the best of them, 

 the blackcap and garden warbler. The blackbirds and thrushes are only 

 too numerous, and, as usual, claim a large share of the fruit, which 

 must be placed on the other side of their account against the quantities 

 of worms and snails of which their regular meals are made. I have 

 noticed that the song of the thrush is in many cases quite different in 

 the summer months from what it is in early spring. Some of the 

 birds seem to amuse themselves with a repetition of the syllables 

 " Weetah, Weetah," several times, followed by a somewhat monotonous 

 chii-rup, which is often repeated, and becomes rather tiresome to listen 

 to. I suppose these must be the young birds of the present season, 

 whose musical powers are not fully developed. Their song is much less 

 agi-eeable than that of the older and more experienced j)erformers. We 

 have a good many of the gold-crested wrens about us this year. They 

 are the smallest of all the British bu'ds, and are very active and pretty. 

 The nest is generally woven into the leaves at the extremity of a pine or 

 cedar branch. We have also a great number of magpies all round us. 

 They are great thieves, and theu* depredations amongst our little 

 chickens and ducklings have made them veiy unpopular with us. I 

 expect the comparatively innocent hawks and owls (which are much 

 more easily shot) often get credit for the crimes which are really due to 

 the magpie. When the young bix'ds are fledged their appetite is 

 ravenous, and the parents find the young duckhngs hatched under a hen, 

 and with no mother to guard them, an easy prey. They have carried off 

 about half a dozen of these httle ones, besides chickens. I do not object 

 to their taking a fair share of the thrush's eggs, a deUcacy they are fond 

 of in early spring, and we can spare them some young blackbirds and 

 thrushes, the remains of which bear fi-equent witness against them, 

 but when they are seen to fly away with the little ducks there is a 

 reasonable outcry against them. — John Gulson, Coventry. July 3rd. 



Side-blown Eggs. — Wfll any of your correspondents describe the 

 method of blowing eggs with one SKle-holeonly?— E. A. Geeen, Normanton 

 Eectory. [The following extract from " Practical Taxidermy, " by Mr. 

 Montagu Browne, Naturahst, Birmingham, pubhshed at the Bazaar Office, 

 London, wiU give the information our coirespondent requires : — " Eggs, 

 when procured, must have their contents removed. To do this they 



