156 ■ NO'J'ES AND NEWS. 



explanation occurring to me is that the angle of the body to the 

 direction of the bird's flight is greater in Sparrows than in the longer 

 winged species ; consequently, when a collision occurs, the legs are 

 likely to be protruded and to bear part of the shock. 



At the risk of making my paper too long, I should just like to 

 quote a few passages from Mr. Seebohm's ' Siberia in Europe ' as 

 to the flocking together of the two species : — ' ... At Vologda we 

 were under the impression that they were all the House Sparrow. 

 In the villages through which we passed after the first day they were 

 certainly all Tree Sparrows . . . (Archangel). Once or twice we identi- 

 fied a Tree Sparrow, but by far the greater number were the common 

 House Sparrow. ... As we proceeded further east Sparrows were 

 less plentiful, but we noticed both species ... in the villages we 

 saw a few Tree Sparrows . . . (Ust Zylma). At this time we ascer- 

 tained positively the presence of a bird which we had long suspected 

 to be on the roof of the Preestaff's house — a no less important bird 

 than the common Sparrow. This is an extraordinary instance of the 

 extreme localness of birds. \Ve never by any chance saw the 

 common Sparrows among the Tree Sparrows. . . . During the week 

 there had apparently been an arrival of House Sparrows, for they 

 abounded in M. Znaminski's (the Preestaff) yard. Strangely enough, 

 we could not meet with any in other parts of the town.' 



In conclusion, I should like to ask the readers of the ' Naturalist' 

 ' Have they found the House Sparrow ever breeding in a hole in 

 a pollard willow or other tree ? ' I never have. This seems to be 

 one of the few differences in habit between the two species. I once 

 found the Tree Sparrow breeding in a nest of the long-suffering 

 House Martin. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Among the recently-elected Fellows of the Linnean Society we note the name 

 of Mr. Edgar R. Waite, sub-curator of the Leeds Museum. 



>0!X 



We trust our readers will again make observations (and let us have their notes 

 for publication) on the (juestion as to whether Starlings are double-brooded or not, 

 concerning which so many interesting notes were printed last year in our journal. 

 Mr. Riley Fortune, F.Z.S., has also suggested that observations be made with the 

 view of ascertaining whether .Starlings pair for life or not. 



In the early months of 1889 the Huddersfield Naturalists' Society adopted a 

 most excellent method of stimulating natural history work among their members 

 by publishing monthly a small-sized four-page circular giving the proceedings of 

 their previous meeting, and also numerous natural history notes of more or less 

 (generally more) interest, and giving announcements as to the Society's proceedings 

 and programme for the following month, and sometimes in addition useful hints as 

 to 'What to Observe.' We were much pleased with the first five numbers, but 

 have not seen any since last July. _^_____ 



Naturalist, 



