7 *



meant, although it is open to doubt whether its numbers in

England would be increased if such practices were put an end to.


As regards doubtful species, the author has done most

wisely in just mentioning their occurence, with data, and

leaving it to the reader’s discretion to consider them British or

not.


We cannot agree with the remark that the Wheatear is

scarcer in the southern portion of these Islands, having found it

distributed in suitable localities quite as abundantly in the south

as in the north. Speaking of the plumage of this species, Dr.

Butler states that the change from summer to winter is produced

by the wearing off of the pale buff edgings as well as by growth

of colour in the feather itself. With all deference to the author,

we are personally of opinion that there is no such thing as

growth of colour in the feather; the change in this and most of

such cases being due to a wearing down of the feather itself, but

not merely an abrasion of its edges.


In the article on the Stonechat, he remarks: “When

roosting or hopping, its tail is incessantly in motion.” We

suppose he only refers to its “ day roosting,” more commonly

called perching, as we should imagine that to keep its tail going

night and day would be rather trying to any bird.


When wuiting of the Redstart, Dr. Butler says that he

does not believe in the migratory instinct, and “ that the true

explanation of the so-called migratory instinct is merely another

name for short commons.” With this we cannot agree; for if

that be the case, how does he account for the migration of many

young birds long before the summer is over, notably in the case

of Richard’s Pipit, in which species, according to Herr Gatke,

the young migrate before they have lost their down and a

considerable time before their parents, who stay to moult ? Or,

again, does food become scarce in Africa about April, causing

birds of all kinds to flock North about the same time ? Mr.

Stirling’s nests of the Black Redstart cannot be taken seriously,

for that species has never been known to breed in hedges, but

generally in walls or clefts of rocks. It is possible for the bird

to have erred in one case (for we know an instance of the

Common Redstart breeding on the ground) ; but reports of the

nest of a rare bird being found by the same person in very

abnormal situations, in two if not three instances, cannot be

believed. Stuff such as this ought to be consigned to the waste-

paper basket and not repeated, more especially as Dr. Butler

himself does not credit the statement.



