NOTES. 187 



On leaving the box the parents usually carried the faeces of 

 the young out and dropped them a short distance away from 

 the box. I never saw anything to lead me to suppose that 

 they were swallowed. 



The food carried in to the nestlings consisted almost 

 exclusively of small moth larvae. About thirty yards from 

 the nest there was a small spindle-tree, which was at this time 

 literally covered by the larvce of the Small Ermine Moth 

 (Iponomeuta padella). For the first sixteen days the Great 

 Tits made no attempt to take these caterpillars. Probably 

 they were afraid of the web-like material which surrounds the 

 larvce of this species. On the seventeenth day I saw the male 

 bird with a grub I did not recognise, and when he tried to 

 enter the box I frightened him with the shutter of a camera I 

 had fixed near the nest, and he dropped a caterpillar, which 

 I found to be that of the Ermine Moth. 



Having found they could take them with impunity the 

 Great Tits made short work of these garden-pests ; for until 

 the young left the nest the birds were constantly backwards 

 and forwards between the spindle-bush and the box. I counted 

 their visits on several occasions and found them paying often 

 four in five minutes ! 



The female bird would frequently arrive with food before 

 the male left the box and vice versa. 



I recognised the larvce of the following insects being taken 

 as food : — 



Small Ermine Moth (Iponomeuta padella) 

 Winter Moth (Cheimatobia brumata) 



Magpie Moth ( Abraxas grossulariata) 



Cabbage Moth (Mamestra brassicce) 



Sawfly sp. (Nematus ribesii) 



There were three nests of Humble Bees (Bombus sp.) close 

 at hand, but I did not see the Great Tits attempt to take the 

 bees. 



I have no doubt that the birds will take any small larvce as 

 food, and the above mentioned species happened to be the 

 commonest available near this nest. 



The Great Tits undoubtedly do much more good than harm 

 in an orchard — the foregoing short list is composed entirely of 

 injurious insects, and the Small Ermine Moth in particular is 

 a most destructive species. C. Kingsley Siddall. 



WOODCHAT SHRIKE DEVOURING SWALLOW 1)N 

 MIGRATION. 



Referring to Commander H. Lynes' remarks in his interesting 

 paper on " Migration of Birds," regarding Shrikes not 

 molesting small birds when migrating with them (see p. 75), 



