THE ZooLocist—NovEMBER, 1875. 4693 
glance, were mistaken for fieldfares. Whilst speaking of starlings, I may 
mention a trait in their habits, which no doubt is well known, although 
I do not recollect having seen it on record. On fine sunny days in the 
autumn they fly into the air with swallows, &c., and catch insects similar 
to that summer-loving tribe. On the 19th of September I watched several 
starlings busily engaged with a number of sand martins, high over the river, 
hawking for flies; but of course the difference in the powers of flight 
possessed by the two species was very noticeable, and the starlings had a 
peculiarity of frequently settling upon the higher branches of some tall 
aspens near, and in this position uttering their prolonged melancholy 
whistle.—G. B. Corbin. 
Supposed Occurrence of Sylvia aquatica in Kent.— On the 12th of 
October, while rambling over the Cliffe marshes, near the Thames, I saw a 
little bird flitting along a reedy ditch, which at first sight I considered to be 
a sedge warbler. Pursuing it, however, with my glass in hand, I got a very 
near view of the bird, and was surprised to find a broad blackish band on 
each side of the head, giving it the appearance of having the whole head 
black in certain attitudes. This, added to the very distinct markings on 
the upper surface, gave the bird an odd bunting-like appearance while 
creeping about the bottom of the reeds; on the wing, however, it was 
indistinguishable from a sedge warbler, except, as I fancied, by a warmer 
and richer colouring. Consulting Bree and Gould, I was confirmed in the 
view I take, viz., that the bird was the aquatic warbler. The distinct broad 
blackish band seems to me to give a clear mark of distinction from the 
sedge warbler. I saw a merlin over the marshes both that day and the 
next; and we have had a stone curlew about us—a bird hitherto quite 
unknown here. A single whimbrel appeared in the open fields near 
Chalk one wild windy day.—Clifton ; Cobham Hall, Gravesend, October 14, 
1875. 
Bearded Tits breeding in Confinement.—The habits of our common 
wild birds in confinement are so rarely studied, that I venture to think the 
following account may not be altogether uninteresting :—Last November 
I procured two hen bearded tits (Calamophilus biarmicus), which I have 
reason to believe had recently been imported from Amsterdam. I hada 
fine cock bird already in my possession. In the spring they evinced a desire 
to breed, and as there were difficulties in the way of planting a bed of reeds 
in a cage four feet by two, I cast about to try and find a substitute for their 
natural nesting-ground. It was not long before my eye lighted on a coarse 
grass, of which I inclose a specimen, growing on a railway embankment in 
large tufts to a height of eighteen inches or two feet. With the aid of a 
friendly railway porter, I procured sufficient to fill several good-sized flower- 
pots, which I introduced into the cage. In the centre of one of the thickest 
plants I placed a wire net, such as is commonly given to canaries to build in, 
SECOND SERIES—VOL, X. 31 
