336 BRITISH BIRDS. 



at the time. I need not lay stress on the importance of this 

 eloquent action. 



On February 14th, in Longdendale, I found the flocks 

 (which had been there very large) broken up into pairs or 

 odd birds, all very noisy. Unfortunately, I have been unable 

 to visit a Magpie country this year — such observations as the 

 above can only be carried out where the birds are common. 

 On December 28th and 31st I was at Longdendale, but the 

 birds were not flocking. But Mr. Milne writes me to say that 

 on the 16th of January of the present year he came across 

 a flock in Longdendale, and watched them for a long time. 

 They were behaving in exactly the same way as those we 

 saw the previous year, but his description includes a hint as 

 to the ragged and trailing appearance of these flocks. The 

 birds were gathered in an isolated tree in a wood ; every few 

 minutes one would fly away, closely followed by a companion. 

 This went on for a long time, fresh birds constantly coming 

 in pairs to keep up the stock in the tree. The reader who 

 has met with one of these winter-gatherings will thus under- 

 stand why the flock is such a ragged one. On January 22nd 

 there was a flock of forty near Broadbottom, as another friend 

 informs me. I might add (in reference to Darwin's note), 

 that so far as we know the birds do not quarrel nor fight. 



Of course there is still need for a very great number of 

 observations in this interesting subject. It is quite without 

 known parallel amongst British birds, for it differs greatly 

 from the performances of the Ruff and the Blackcock. I regret 

 that I have not done justice to these wonderful performances. 

 As " displays " they are quite equal to anything I have seen 

 of the Birds of Paradise now housed at the Zoological Gardens ; 

 and as the Magpie is a strikingly handsome bird, it can compete 

 with its not distant relatives even so far as plumes are 

 concerned. 



Fredk. J. Stubbs. 



NESTING OF THE LITTLE OWL IN HAMPSHIRE. 



Not far from Portsmouth, in the side of a hill, there is a large 

 and little-used quarry, well sheltered on all sides, except to 

 the southward. Here, in 1900, a pair of Black Redstarts 

 spent the winter, and a number of commoner species annually 

 nest. 



An inspection of the quarry on the evening of the 5th of 

 March, 1909, added a new visitor to the list — the Little Owl 

 {Athene noctua), a single bird, which when roused from a pile 

 of fallen boulders at the base of the cliff made off with the 



