416 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 93 



remarkable form of it. It is hardly possible that it has been 

 caused by fright, incident to its capture, cases of which I have per- 

 sonally seen in men and women, — that is, where the hair, or cer- 

 tain locks of it, has turned white in a few hours from fright or 

 great anxiety. 



After this bird had assumed its full summer first plumage, I de- 

 termined to restore it to freedom, letting it out in a room where 

 the windows were all open. It flew out and lit on one of the shut- 

 ters. Upon shaking the bottle at it, in which I kept a supply of 

 meal worms, it immediately flew back into the room, lit on my 

 hand, and tried to coax me into giving it a worm. After this the 

 bird became such a pet and so interesting that I have decided to 

 keep it all winter, to note what plumage its tail will take on in 

 the spring. It eats heartily of canary seed, but prefers an insect 

 diet. Its summer notes during the day are charming, and I love 

 to listen to them while at my work. During warm days it takes 

 a bath three or four times between sunrise and dark. 



My attention has recently been called to a case of douMe-nesting, 

 the birds being the European Thrush (Turdiis mitsicus). The two 

 pairs built their nests side by side, in close contact but not inter- 

 woven. The site was in a tree in a copse at Codicote, England, and 

 the photograph shows a clutch of eggs in each nest. It was taken 

 by Mr. G. J. Buller, of the Letchworth Museum, in which institu- 

 tion the specimen is now exhibited. I am interested to know 

 whether any one has ever observed such a " double-nesting " hav- 

 ing been resorted to by any of our United States thrushes, as the 

 Wood Thrush, or any others of the genus Hylocichla. 



Recently, I have been collecting material with the view of pub- 

 lishing some articles, aimed to demonstrate to A^^erican agricul- 

 turists the usefulness of our Owls. One or two these articles 

 have already been accepted, and will appear in -, course. Mr. 

 John Henry Gurney, a Corresponding Fellow of t] Union, writes 

 me that they have been trying for years to impress the fact upon 

 the minds of the gamekeepers in England of the value of Owls ; 

 but that they, as a rule, still persist in killing those birds as " vex'- 

 min." Recently they have been issuing there special slips, printed 

 in very bold type on a fine grade of paper, for distribution among 

 the gamekeepers and farmers, but especially among the foi'mer. 

 Copies of one of these slips are now before me. A line of big type, 

 " The Utility of Owls," invites attention to a striking instance given 

 below it, which says : " Taken out of a Barn Owl's Tree at Kes- 

 wick in Norfolk (April 10, 1931) 114 'Pellets' contahiing the skulls 

 of : — 19 very small rats. 126 Long- and Short-tailed Field-mice, G9 

 Shrew-mice, and 3 small birds (perhaps Green finches). No Game." 



