170



Correspondence.



SCARCITY OF WILD BIRDS.


(Kindly communicated by Mr. Astley.)


Dear Sir,— There is not a single Goldcrest alive here, and hardly such a

thing as a Long-tailed Tit. It is very rarely that I see any Long-tailed Tits, and if

I do it is just two or three odd birds, probably all cocks or all hens ; the ordinary

Hocks of ten or more are a thing of the past. No Fieldfares or Redwings ; even

Greenfinches were killed off last winter The only birds in this neighbourhood that

one can say are fairly often met with are Bullfinches, Sparrows, and Starlings, a

few Missel-Thrushes. Blackbirds, and Song-Thrushes. The common Meadow Pipit

is seldom seen now. The summer migrants will be more plentiful when the season

arrives than our non-migratory or resident species. Since this awful war started

there seems to be, as it were, a force at work which slaughters nearly everything :

human beings are being killed, animals are being killed down more than uSual to

supply food, the elements have been at work, intense cold has killed off bird life to

a terrible extent, trees have been slaughtered with the axe, the pretty woods having

been cleared and thinned unmercifully. What times we are living in !


Yours truly,


P. F.‘M. Galloway.


Caver sham, Berks.



VARIATION IN BLACKBIRDS.


Mr. J. Weir writes : At the present time I have two hen (?) Blackbirds.

They are the same season’s birds, and I have had them some years. They differ

somewhat : one is a big bird — might pass for a fair-sized cock of a different

colouring; the other is slimmer. The bigger bird is almost a chocolate-brown, and

slightly grey on the throat ; the other is a lighter colour, and rather prettily

mottled in the same place ; the darker bird also has a slight suggestion of an eye-

mark like a thrush. I had two other hen Blackbirds, one slightly pied, which

resembled the lighter bird on the throat, one (not the pied one) rather pretty. I

think it is a pity hen Blackbirds, Sparrows, etc., are not shown at the big shows.


I trust you will forgive this rather feminine and discursive letter !



SKYLARK AND HAWK.


Dear Sir,— Last week a friend of mine was on the Downs near Pewsey,

Wilts., talking to some of his motor tractor ploughmen, when a Lark Hew to his

feet. He picked it up and apparently there was nothing wrong, but its heart

showed it was very frightened. On looking up my friend saw a Hawk hovering

overhead. He carried the Lark some way up the Down. It lay perfectly still in

his hand, then suddenly flew away. It struck me as curious that the bird should

have flown to the feet of my friend, for surely they are very shy birds ?


Yours very truly,


(Mrs.) E. K. Goddard.


The Lawn, Swindon;


January 29th, 1918.



