Letters, Extracts, Notices, &;c. 467 



it to feed there, so I procured some lobworms and threw 

 them on the grass. 



The bird instantly took them, and now has become quite 

 tame, and will come within a yard or two of me, and, so far, 

 has given no sign of migrating. I have watched carefully, 

 but have never seen any bird attempt to feed it, except in 

 one instance, a Wagtail ; but, as the pair of these are accom- 

 panied by six young ones, they have not much time to devote 

 to the stranger, who, to a large extent, has shifted for itself. 

 Since I have fed it with worms it seems to have got fat, and 

 if a worm moves near the surface when the dew is on, it goes 

 down and digs it out like a Thrush. 



Its favourite position is a pole, which I have put up for it, 

 and sitting on this it much resembles a Hawk, and is mobbed 

 sometimes by Swallows, which it snaps its beak at when they 

 come too close. Several naturalists of repute, including my 

 brother and Mr. Frank Norgate, have witnessed these inter- 

 esting facts ; and we all agree that this is a somewhat new 

 phase in the life-habits of a very mysterious bird, and worthy 

 of record in your columns. — W. H. Tuck, August 12, 1889. 



New Breeding Birds in the Trondhjem District. — Prof. Col- 

 lett, writing from Roros, north of Trondhjem, in Norway, 

 on July 8th, says as follows : — " I am just now in good col- 

 lecting-ground. Three days ago I found. Tringa maritima 

 breeding on the mountains of Trondhjem, close to the Swedish 

 frontier, and to-day I have found here (at Roros) the nests 

 of Tringa temminckii (four eggs) and Otocoris alpestris (full- 

 grown young ones). The nearest breeding-place hitherto 

 known of these three species is Tromso and Finmark." 



International Ornithological Congress of 1891. — We have 

 received circulars announcing that the " Second International 

 Ornithological Congress " will be held at Budapest at Whit- 

 suntide next year. 



Breeding of Falco babylonicus. — Mr. Hume kindly com- 

 municates the following note from Lieut. Philott on the 



