96 BIBBS 



A KEDSTART TRAGEDY 



In a box which I fastened to a Scots pine about three 

 yards from my dining-room window two redstarts reared 

 a brood this summer. All went well till about a week 

 ago, when seeing one young one out with the parents, 

 who had abandoned their nest, I took the nest. It was 

 empty, but at the side of it, in the box, lay a dead cock- 

 sparrow and two young redstarts the redstarts evidently 

 having died subsequently to the sparrow and being nearly 

 ready for flight before they died. Can any of your readers 

 explain this mystery? 



A. J. SWINBURNE. 



July 6, 1901. 



NOTE. The weekly Spectator went on and there was 

 no answer ; years after, the letters go into a book and still 

 there is no answer. If the reviewers maintain the con- 

 tinuity of silence, then we are done. 



A BIRD PARTY 



All lovers of birds will be grateful to "X." for his 

 article in your last issue. It has been my practice for 

 several years to scatter each morning a plateful of crumbs 

 upon the lawn in front of my study window, and if I have 

 not, like St. Francis, preached sermons to "my dear 

 sisters, the starlings," I have at least been a constant 

 observer of the manners and dispositions of my guests. 

 In these there is great variety. The robin, for instance, 

 whom we all love, is really a very quarrelsome fellow. 

 Two cock birds will never feed together, but eye one 

 another a foot apart, swollen with minute anger, till they 

 rise, and there is a battle in the air. The blackbird, 

 handsome as he is, has much of the bully in him. He 

 drives other birds away, and would rather miss his portion 

 of the feast altogether than allow another of his kind to 

 take his share while he is by. Moreover, he is no 



