The Zoologist — August, 1873. 3647 



[Editorial Query. — What is the ruling motive for song in birds? In the 

 domestic cocli, in the robin, in the missel thrush, it seems very like a 

 challenge to all the males of the same species to come and have a fight. 

 I cannot regard it in the poetic and sentimental light ; to me it does not 

 seem a hymn of praise to the Creator, or a ditty addressed to a lady love. — 

 E. Newman.] 



migration of the Sky Lark. — Some years ago, when we experienced a 

 very heavy fall of snow, I noticed this species migrating in countless 

 hundreds from north-east to south-west. They flew comparatively low, and 

 their only business seemed a hasty retreat to a more congenial and hospitable 

 neighbourhood. They made little noise during their journey, but their 

 numbers must have been unlimited, as they were passing the whole of the 

 day, and even in the evening twilight I could still detect the migration 

 going on. This season I have again noticed similar flights, not so extensive, 

 but under exactly similar circumstances. The first fall of snow we had in 

 February, when the ground became covered, was the signal for their transit, 

 and accordingly the migration took place immediately. Their numbers 

 must have been augmented by arrivals from the north, for, although a 

 common species in Hampshire, I scarcely think all I saw were bred in this 

 neighbourhood. As before observed, these took a direction from north-east 

 to south-west, and I saw few, if any, after the first day's migration. During 

 the fall of snow at the end of February (when it covered the ground to its 

 greatest depth), T did not observe any further migration, and in no case 

 have I seen the birds return northwards. On each occasion of seeing these 

 migrations the flight has been directed in the same course, away from the 

 open fields and hills to the fir-woods on the opposite side of the river. It 

 will perhaps be asked. Is it possible that the birds could have taken ad- 

 vantage of the shelter afforded by these woods ? I think not, as their 

 flight, if from any great distance, must have been across the extensive 

 woods of the New Forest before reaching us, where ample shelter, but little 

 food, could be obtained, so I suppose that hunger is the whole and sole cause 

 of these migrations, as I never observed it except when the ground was 

 "snow-clad." In severe frosts I have seen the birds eating turnip-tops, 

 chickweed, &c., in sheltered fields, but I do not recollect ever seeing them 

 migrate for frost alone, although they get distressingly thin in body and 

 rough in plumage during a continued frost. — G. B. Corbin. 



Starling's Nest under Ground. — I went to see the nest of a starling, 

 containing four nearly-fledged young, which was about eighteen or twenty 

 inches under ground, amongst stones, cinders and other rough materials, 

 laid upon a drain round the foundation of the clmrch, level with the 

 ground, and covered with grass ; there is but a small hole, like a rat-hole, 

 perpendicular to the nest, but the passage turns round a stone, which I had 

 to remove before I could satisfy myself that they were not there by accident, 



