VOL. XIII.] NOTES. 25 



attempt any action against a Sparrow-Hawk or a Harrier, 

 but one of the few Buzzards that I saw in France was being 

 pestered by a Carrion-Crow. Peregrine Falcons {Falco 

 peregrinus) seem to be more than immune from attack ; they 

 are frequently the aggressors. In the autumn of 1916 I saw 

 signs of a considerable southward migration of Peregrines, in 

 places as far apart as the Ancre Valley and Rouen ; and near 

 Rouen one of the Peregrines gave chase to a Rook. The 

 birds climbed to a great height in the air and were also moving 

 fast across the line of sight. Long after the Peregrine, with 

 its lighter colour, had become indistinguishable against the 

 thin clouds, I could still see the Rook as a black speck and 

 trace the frantic dodgings to which it was driven to avoid 

 the swoops of the Falcon. Peregrines often attack Starlings, 

 sometimes swooping through a flock and sometimes pursuing 

 single birds. A headlong chase across the Seine that I once 

 witnessed ended in the Starling hurling itself in the nick of 

 time into a bush on the far bank, while the Peregrine saved 

 itself by an impossible-looking turn which shot it into the 

 sky like a rocket. 



Peregrines and Starlings, again, were concerned in the 

 most amazing spectacle I have ever seen in the bird world. 

 It was at Corbie on the Somme, in the winter of 1916-17. 

 A large flock of Starlings appeared, rushing across country 

 at no great height but at tremendous speed, and thrown 

 continuously into singular contortions. As they passed, the 

 cause of the contortions became visible. The flock was being 

 attacked by three Peregrines working together. One after 

 another they climbed above it and dashed themselves into 

 and through it, and the Starlings, in that curious way that 

 makes them act in a flock like points in a living jelly, rushed 

 up to meet each swoop and then split their ranks to let it 

 through. The Peregrines were swooping in rapid succession 

 and the strange jelly-like writhings of the flock of Starlings 

 were incessant — the whole display whirling over the country 

 at something that looked like a hundred miles an hour — • 

 [Cf. Br. Birds, X., p. 293. — Eds.] E. Leonard Gill. 



CONTINENTAL JAYS IN NORFOLK. 



In a previous note {antea, Vol. XL, p. 259), I recorded the 

 occurrence of Continental Jays {Garrulns glandarins glandarius) 

 in Norfolk, during the winter of 1917-18. 



During the past winter, 1918-19, although Jays have been 

 unusually numerous, I have only been able to procure five 

 specimens sufficiently undamaged to be worth preserving. 



