NOTES AND QUERIES. 303 



last four years been frequently noticed in summer. I took a nest from 

 a hole in an oak-tree in this parish in May, 1886, which was the first 

 occurrence that I know of. My friend Mr. R. Kelly, of Kelly, in a letter 

 this spring, requested me to identify a Pigeon breeding in a rabbit-hole 

 there : aud three instances have occurred of the bird breeding in rabbit-holes 

 in my own gravel-pits, the keeper also having brought me young birds 

 caught by him in rabbit traps, I consider this breeding of the Stock Dove 

 in Cornwall the more interesting, as it is a parallel case to that of the 

 Starling, which I first noticed here in 1856, and which now is too common 

 to excite attention. — Francis R. Rodd (Trebartha Hall, Launceston). 



Food of the Kestrel. — The Kestrels in our church-tower, recently men- 

 tioned by me (p. 269), have safely brought off their young. The nestlings, 

 at about two days old, much resembled small white chickens. They grew 

 rapidly, and soon began to resent the approach of their numerous visitors 

 by hissing and spitting, very much after the manner of a small kitten on 

 its first introduction to a dog. As they grew older they would sit up in 

 the nest almost erect, resting on the whole length of the tarsus, like a 

 Guillemot ; they remained in the nest, as nearly as I can say, for five 

 weeks. I noticed the remains of one Starling and several Sparrows, which 

 had been brought for food, but not a sign of either pheasant or partridge. 

 On the day the young ones left the nest I found a mouse, Mus musculus, 

 quite fresh, and not touched. It is seldom that one has the chance of 

 examining a Kestrel's nest by simply walking upstairs to it, and I much 

 hope these interesting birds will return to the same tower next spring. — 

 Julian G. Tuck (Tostock Rectory, Bury St. Edmunds). 



Song of the Great Tit. — On the 30th September last my attention 

 was attracted by what I suspect to be the very unusual occurrence of a 

 Great Tit, Parus major, singing. The bird was in a tall hedge beside me. 

 His strains were uttered in an undertone, after the manner of the Sky Lark 

 and Robin, when they sing while standing on the ground, and seemed to 

 be a mimicry of the song of the latter bird, intermixed with the notes of 

 the Linnet. The hedges were getting very bare, and I was able to watch 

 the bird for a minute or more, during which he sung two or three times as 

 he hopped slowly along the hedge. — L. W. Wiglesworth (Castlethorpe, 

 Bucks). 



The Osprey in Barbados. — Schomburgh, in his ' History of Barbados' 

 (p. 631), records that a large Fish Hawk (perhaps Pandion carolinensis) was 

 shot in October, 1835, at Graeme Hull Swamp. Several Ospreys, Pandion 

 halia'etus, appeared in the island of Barbados during the month of October, 

 1887. One of these is preserved in the collection of Dr. Charles Manning, 

 and another, a fine female, shot in the same month and year, is in the 

 collection of Mr. Herbert Hart, of Fairfield, also in this island. The 



