66 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Maboh 1, 1898. 



BKiTISH 



a>i^Kf 



ORNITHOLOGICA 



NOTES 



Conducted by Habby F. Witherby, f.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



MisTLE Thrush swallowing Droppings of Young. — 

 Last spring I was much interested in watching a pair of 

 Mistle Thrushes which had their nest on a branch of a tree 

 some twenty feet from the house. From an upper window 

 one could get an uninterrupted view down into the nest. 

 When the young were hatched I watched the nest very 

 carefully, and with a pair of field glasses, which revealed 

 every detail of the birds and the nest, I made the 

 following observations. As soon as one of the parent 

 birds appeared in the tree the four young ones stretched 

 up their necks and opened their gaping yellow mouths. 

 The old bird cautiously made its way to the edge of the 

 nest, and put a piece of a worm first into one mouth, then 

 into another (generally only two at a feeding), seeming by 

 its actions to discriminate which young ones to feed. 

 Immediately it had emptied its mouth the parent put its 

 head down to the nest, and one of the young turned round 

 and voided its white droppings into the open beak of the 

 parent bird, which then swallowed the droppings and flew 

 away. In two minutes the other parent appeared, and 

 went through exactly the same process. For a fortnight 

 I watched this extraordinary method of sanitation many 

 times a day. On no occasion did either parent leave the 

 nest after feeding the young without swallowing the 

 droppings of one young bird and only one. Moreover, on 

 several occasions the old bird, after having waited a few 

 seconds without result, gave a gentle peck to one of the 

 young, which immediately turned round and voided its 

 droppings into the parent's mouth. At about every fourth 

 visit to the nest one of the parents covered the young for 

 a quarter of an hour after having fed them and swallowed 

 the droppings, and on several occasions I kept my eyes 

 upon the parent during the whole time, but never saw it 

 attempt to disgorge. During the last week in which the 

 young ones were in the nest the droppings were, apparently, 

 sometimes too large to swallow, and consequently they 

 were often carried away in the beak ; but every now and 

 then they were swallowed. 



I have set these facts out in detail because, although 

 it is well known that birds carry away the droppings of the 

 young, the fact that they are usually swallowed by certain 

 birds seems to have been overlooked. In the second 

 volume of Macgillivi-ay's " British Birds," that excellent 

 naturalist, the late J. Jenner Weir, in communications to 

 the author concerning the habits of the Blackbird, Song 

 Thrush, and Mistle Thrush (the nests of which he had 

 watched most carefully), mentions the fact that in each 

 of these species he observed that the old birds " swallowed 

 nearly all the droppings of their brood " during the day ; 

 moreover, he shot one of the birds and found the 

 droppings in its stomach. In the fourth edition of 



Yarrell's " British Birds " we are merely told that Song 

 Thrushes "have been observed to swallow the ficces of their 

 offspring." 



In no other book can I find the fact mentioned. It 

 ^eems to me that either the habit has been overlooked or 

 else it requires confirmation, and I have therefore ventured 

 to publish this note. 



It is evident that the droppings go into the stomach, 

 ind it is also evident that they are sometimes retained for 

 at least a quarter of an hour. It is questionable if the 

 l)ird would be able to disgorge them after they had 

 been in the stomach for fifteen minutes. It is con- 

 ceivable that the droppings are taken by the parent bird 

 as food, for it would be able to digest what the young 

 bird had, perhaps, been unable to assimilate, and would 

 thus save a great deal of time in procuring nourishment 

 for itself. 



It seems to me that for those well situated for observing 

 birds it would be most profitable to ascertain during the 

 coming spring what species do swallow the droppings 

 of the young, if they do this regularly, and if there is 

 sufficient nutriment in them to induce the birds to swallow 

 them for the sake of nourishment. If the droppings are 

 swallowed for this purpose it may be that they are only 

 swallowed when food is scarce. I shall be very glad of 

 any further information on this interesting subject. — H-vbry 

 F. Witherby. 



Quail in Sussex. — We have had brought us to-day for 

 preservation a Quail (C. communis), caught in the lark 

 nets near here yesterday. We suppose that the mildness 

 of the winter is the cause of its remaininf,' in this country. 

 — Edwin A. Pratt, Brighton, January "iSth, 1898. 



Curious Jackdaws Nest. — Last season but one, while 

 looking over the grounds at Bretton Hall, near Barnsley, 

 I saw sticks protruding from the top of the old chimney 

 formerly belonging to the greenhouses. I suspected it to 

 be a nest. On making inquiries from the gardener he 

 told me it was the nest of a pair of Jackdaws, which had 

 filled the chimney with sticks and made their nest on the 

 top. On looking in at a doorway at the bottom of the 

 chimney I saw it was quite filled from the base, and the 

 man told me he had cleared it out several times, but they 

 always filled it again. — S. L. Mosley, Educational Museum, 

 Huddersfield. 



Early Nesting of the Starling, the Long-tailed Tit, 

 AND the House Sparrow.— The Kev. Francis C. E. 

 Jourdain writes from Asburne, Derbyshire, that a Starling's 

 nest, with nearly fledged young, was found at Bradley at 

 the end of January. Mr. W. Dunn, of Exmouth, writes 

 that on February 7th he watched a pair of Long-tailed Tits 

 collecting moss, evidently for a nest. A brood of House 

 Sparrows is also reported from Blackheath, Kent, as having 

 been hatched on February loth. 



Cranr- in CouhIi/ Ti/ipefciry (Irish Xafuralisf, February, 1898, 

 p. 51), ^A specimen of Qnis communis is reported bv Jlr. W. 

 Johnston, of Thurles, to have been shot at Seskin in September, 1896. 



Li/tle Sittern in Cotinti) Cork (Irish Ifuliiralvif, February, 1898, 

 p. 51). — Mr. .Tohu .T. Wolfe records that a bird of this species was 

 shot on November 8th, 1897, by Mr. W. Sweetman. of Schul), and 

 sent to him. 



Liftle Bustard in Norfolk (The Field, February 19th, 1898, 

 p. 285). — Licut.-Col. E. A. Butler records that a specimen of the 

 Little Bustard (Otis tefrax) was shot on January 25th by Mr. Godwin 

 at Fcltwell, ue:ir Dowuliam Market, Norfolk. 



All contributions to the column, either in tlie way of notes 

 or photoi/raphs, should be forwarded to Habry F. Witherby, 

 at 1, Eliot Place, Blacklieath, Kent. 



Note. — The first issue of Knowikdgk containing British Ornitho- 

 logical Notes was that for October, 1897. 



