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Stray Notes.



have been removed, have been placed in the Eland’s Paddock where they

are regularly fed. Even now they are able to take short flights, and it is

hoped that as their wing-featliers grow they may take longer flights and

possibly breed in some of the trees in the gardens or in the Park, returning

regularly to their accustomed feeding place. This is an excellent idea,

which we hope may be extended to other species.


It would be very delightful to have some of the hardy Australian

Doves, for instance, nesting in our London Parks, where they should do as

well as the Wood Pigeons which have become so numerous of recent years,

Bronze-wings, Wonga Wongas and Crested Pigeons, feeding with the water-

fowl, would form a very attractive sight, and we fail to see that their

acclimatization could be objected to on any score.


It is not often that Bramblings are so numerous in this country as they

have been during the past winter. In most of the Southern Counties, at

least, almost every beech wood has contained flocks of these birds, generally

associating with Chaffinches and feeding upon the fallen beech mast. The

very conspicuous white rump and the harsh call-note are unmistakable.


A very interesting exhibition, illustrating the Chinese method of

fishing with Cormorants, was recently given at the London Hippodrome.

The arena having been flooded, a Chinaman appears on a bamboo raft with

several Cormorants round whose necks a band has been tied just sufficiently

tight to prevent them swallowing a fair sized fish, but not tight enough to

in any way hurt the birds. Fishes are then liberated into the water, and the

Cormorants immediately dive, and with marvellous dexterity very quickly

capture the fish, and return to the raft, to which they are lifted by the

Chinaman with a bamboo rod. The birds then disgorge the fish into a

basket. Having captured all the fish, the bauds are removed from the

birds’ necks, the fish returned to the water, and the birds allowed to

capture them again, and this time to swallow them.


The Ibis for January is one of the most interesting numbers that has

been published for a long time. A paper on Ostrich-farming in South

Africa, by the late Hon. Arthur Douglas gives a very clear insight into the

habits of these remarkable birds. The Author proves that the oft-repeated

statement that the Ostrich is a polygamous species is entirely incorrect,

and unless the birds are allowed to choose their own mates and pair off

naturally, success cannot be assured.


Captain Walton’s paper on the Birds of Southern Tibet, and that by

Mr. Eagle Clarke on the Birds of the South Orkney Islands, are also of

much more than ordinary interest, and the latter is illustrated by some

extremely good photographs, obtained during the recent Scottish National

Antarctic Expedition.



In his excellent letter on the subject of “ Aviaries versus Cages,” in



