255 

 CORRESPONDENCE. 



COCK BLACKBIRD FEEDING YOUNG ROBINS. 



Towards the end of March a pair of Robins built in a small box I had 

 put up last year on a wall of my house. The first egg was laid about 

 March 26th. On April 13th a pair of Blackbirds built on the roof of 

 the same box, which was the site of their nest last year (though the 

 Robins did not build in the box last year). The first Blackbird's egg 

 was laid on April 19th. On April 22nd I noticed the cock Blackbird 

 chasing the old Robins away whenever they tried to go to their nest, 

 which by now contained young birds. At last the cock Blackbird could 

 stand it no longer, and he deliberately perched in front of the hole in 

 the box and dared the robins to come in. He must then have heard 

 the young ones inside, as he turned round and looked in — looked very 

 surprised — had another look — flew off — and a moment after I saw him 

 on the lawn breaking up a large worm into small pieces. I waited until 

 he had got his beak full of the bits, and then went back to the other 

 window from which I could see the two nests^ — about 3 yards away. 

 Back he came, went straight to the hole in the box and fed the young 

 robins ! He continued doing this for about a week, occasionally giving 

 a worm to his own hen, sitting on her nest just above. It really seemed 

 as though he thought the young robins were his own brood, and had 

 •dropped through into the box from the nest above ! The parent robins 

 also fed them whenever they got the chance. When the young robins 

 were nearly fledged they appeared to be afraid of the blackbird, and 

 would not take any more food from him. He came out of the box with 

 the worm still in his beak and gave it to his hen on the nest. 



The young robins left the nest on May ist, the young blackbirds on 

 May 20th. 



There is a robin sitting in an old kettle in one of my rustic arches, 

 and a blackbird with four eggs (yesterday) about two yards away, higher 

 up in the same arch, but I am not sure whether they are the same pairs 

 respectively. 



My garden is full of young Blue Tits to-day which left their nest (in 

 an old stone filter in a tree) yesterday evening. One of them perched 

 •quite happily on my finger to-day, and flew back again on to my hand 

 when I had put in on an apple tree. — E. W. Maule Cole, Hillside, 

 Northiam, Sussex, May 30th. 



Those of us who are in the habit of using tents or hides for photo- 

 graphing birds, know that it is not an uncommon occurrence for other 

 birds, besides the parents, to take a hand at helping to feed a hungry 

 brood. — R.F. 



G. P. Phibbs figures and describes ' Variations in the segmental 

 spines of the fourth -stage larva of Hypoderma bovis (the warble-fly) in 

 The Irish Naturalist for May. 



Referring to our remarks on Discovery (1920, pp. 83, 118-119), the 

 editor. Dr. Russell, now finds that he must retire from the editorship of 

 that magazine. We believe the publication will continue to appear. 



We learn from The Geological Magazine for June that ' owing to the 

 large number of important original papers now to hand, it has been 

 found impossible to spare even one page for Editorial Notes.' The number 

 is principally occupied by papers dealing with Australia, China, etc. 



Mr. C. Carus-Wilson illustrates in Nature the outline of an organism 

 which he states is a beetle and that the ' clavate and merismatic antennae 

 are very conspicuous.' Professor Cole makes a reasonable suggestion 

 that the remains are of a radiolarian, but Mr. Wilson is not convinced, 

 though he does not explain how the antennae indicated could possibly be 

 embedded in a nodule formed at the bottom of the sea. 



3921 July 1 



