Birds. 7881 



Occurrence of the Great Gray Shrike at Jevinqtnn, Sussex.— S. beauiiful male 

 specimen of the <>:reat sjiay strike {Luniiis cxcubilor) w:is "hot, on tlie 19lb uf Novemlier 

 last, at Jevington, roiir Tiiiles fro;n Eu'^tbaunie, ])y Mr. W. B. Read, fanner, of that 

 place, and is now in my possession. Mr. Read informs me that he several times 

 since saw another about the same spot, but has been unable to succeed in sliooting it. 

 On dissection I fiund the head of a smail mouse in the stomach, and which I have 

 presprvpd in alcohol. — John Dittloii ; South Street, Eattbnurne, December 18, 1861. 



Qwnj about the Rubin.— li i-- the !;eneral ojiinion in the North Riding of York- 

 shire that the young birds kill oflf the old ones. For two years I have endeavoured to 

 ascertain the truth of this opinion, but without success ; for, though tlie young ones 

 are common in June and July in the gardens and hed;,'e-rows, yet the old birds are 

 very rare indeed. In August and September the well-known breast is common 

 enough. I should feel obliged by information as to whether this opinion prevails in 

 any other county, and if so, whether there are any grounds for it. — J. Rmson ; 

 York. 



Large Flocks of Magpies. — In reply to your correspondent's query (Zoo!. 7817) I 

 beg to state that previous to the year 1859 large flocks of magpies were frequently 

 observed in the neighbourhood of Stocksmoor, ue.ir Huddersfield, when the weather 

 was severe; sometimes they numbered thirty, or even forty, in a flock. But since 

 that time the gamekeepers have nearly exterminated the species in that neighbimr- 

 hood, and where formerly you could see scores you caunot see one now. — B. Gibson ; 

 Wakefield, December 27, 1861. 



Occurrence of the Crossbill near Ei/e.— On the 18th of October last my brother shot 

 a very line male example of the crossbill {Loxia ciirvirostra): it was feeding in a til- 

 plantation close to our house, eating either the seeds of the fir or insects contained in 

 the cones; as he skinned it befirc I had an opportunity of examining it, I am unable 

 to say on which. According to Macgillivray, they sometimes visit this country in 

 large flocks. — R. Tyrer.jun.; Eye, Suffolk, November 8, 1861. 



Food of the I'Fmi.— In a paper on the habits and food of the wren by Mr. Brock- 

 holes, published in the 'Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of 

 Liverpool,' this gentleman states that snails constitute a large portion of the food of 

 this little bird during the winter, — that it oftcti carries them to a particular spot, 

 where it detaches the animal by breaking the shell, or by other means, and then eats 

 it; and that the bioken shells are often noticed lying in consideral)!e numbers 

 together, by persons who are iguorant of tlie cause of their destruction. I cannot 

 conceive how Mr. Brockholes can have fallen into this error: a moment's considera- 

 tion must convince any one that a wren could not by any possibility lireak the shell of 

 a snail, and if it could detach the animal in any other way it could not swallow it. 

 I thout;ht every one who has paid the least attention to birds was aware that it is the 

 song thrush.Jwhich feeds upon snails, and this bird almost always carries them to a 

 particular stone to break the shells. The wren feeds entirely upon small insects and 

 worms, and in winter frequents ditches and brooks for the sake of the small red worms 

 so abundant in the mud: the stomach of one killed a day or two since contained 

 nothing whatever but these worms. Mr. Brockholes also stales that wrens roost in 

 such numbers in a single hole in a haystack tliat a dozen may be taken out at once in 

 the hand : if this is the case at Liverpool wrens must be far more numerous there than 

 they are at Epping. — Henry Doubleday ; Epping, January 4, 1862. 



Variety of Partridges. — It may be interesting to some of the numerous readers of 



VOL. XX. I 



