BIRD NOTES 141 



of the fireside to its own outside lodgings. Locally 

 this species seems to turn up more frequently now 

 than in years gone by. 



SOME STRANGE FATALITIES 



Some bricklayers working on a roof in the heart 

 of the town in April 1899 called to me from the 

 scaffolding, asking me to inspect a large niche in a 

 half-demolished chimney where lay huddled together 

 no less than fifteen bird skeletons, which I imme- 

 diately identified as those of Jackdaws. In all prob- 

 ability the chimney had been the birthplace of 

 generations of those birds, and the perfectly clean, bare 

 skeletons discovered were doubtless those of young 

 birds that had either tumbled out of the nest or had 

 died and been thrown out by the parent birds. Not 

 a particle of flesh, sinew, or feather remained, this 

 being due, mayhap, to the attentions of mice, blow- 

 flies, and moths. I had known the house since 

 childhood, but could not remember Jackdaws having 

 ever inhabited its chimneys. 



That blowflies find out carcasses in a most 

 mysterious fashion is evidenced by my finding, in 

 two instances, the remains of Swifts that had 



