144 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vin, 



HABITS OF BROODING BIRDS AND NESTLINGS 

 AT NIGHT. 



In the October issue of British Birds, Mr. J. H. Owen, 

 writing of the Spotted Flycatcher, says (p. 116) : " after the 

 young are twelve days old they are not brooded at night." 

 I have examined the nests of Blackbirds, Song-Thrushes, and 

 Robins at night and have found that when the young are 

 half-feathered the old birds do not brood them by night, 

 although they may continue to do so by day. Young 

 Blackbirds and Thrushes, examined by lantern light, behaved 

 just as by day. The behaviour of young Robins, however, 

 under similar circumstances was different. I examined two 

 nests, one in 1913 and one in 1914, and found that when 

 the nest was disturbed, the nestlings responded by a most 

 curious spasmodic action which appeared to be quite 

 unconscious, and was only evoked by the stimulus of touch. 

 With ruffled plumage they darted their heads over the nest- 

 brim with great rapidity, while their bodies were agitated 

 until the whole nest quivered. They accompanied these 

 actions by a snapping noise similar to that made by two 

 Thrushes when fighting. I have never heard this sound 

 from a Robin, either adult or young, before. It should be 

 mentioned that this attack, if one may call it so, was never 

 directed at the disturbing finger, but seemed to be quite 

 purposeless. I timed the demonstration, and found that 

 in one nest it lasted twenty to twenty-five seconds, and in 

 the other only half as long. I never could get any response 

 to disturbance during the day-time, and so far I have not 

 noticed the action in other broods examined by night, which 

 were Blackbirds and Thrushes. Maud D. Haviland. 



BREEDING STATUS OF LINNET IN THE 

 SCILLY ISLES. 



In their paper on the " Birds of Scilly " in the Zoologist 

 (1906, p. 250), Messrs. Clarke and Rodd state that: "The 

 Linnet occurs in large and frequent flocks, often mixed with 

 Chaffinches, in autumn and spring, and irregularly throughout 

 the winter. It has not hitherto been recorded as nesting at 

 Scilly, but in 1903 nests were found on Garrison Hill, St. 

 Mary's, and on St. Martin's, and in 1904 on Tresco." It 

 would appear that it has considerably increased as a nesting 

 species since then, for I found three nests round Old Town, 

 St. Mary's, in 1914, quite by accident, and had I searched, 

 should no doubt have found many more, judging by the 



