280 Correspondence.


Rutland, the smallest County in England, with but 100,000

square acres, possesses few features which are particularly attrac-

tive to bird life, nevertheless two hundred species adorn the list

of its birds, besides a few doubtful occurrences. The Little Owl,

introduced by the late IyOrd L,ilford into Northamptonshire, has

increased to an extraordinary extent and is now common in

Rutland.


We are told that the " old English Pheasant " is probably

extinct in Rutland, the Rutland birds of the present day being

hybrids " between the old breed and the Ring-necked Pheasant

(Phasiamis torquatus), the Kallege or Silver Pheasant (Euplocamus

nythemems), and perhaps also the Japanese variety (Phasiamis

versicolor').'''' We can well believe that the Pheasants of Rutland

are a mixed breed, as are almost all the wild Pheasants in Eng-

land, but we doubt much if the Silver Pheasant has had any

influence on the stock. That it will cross with a true Phasiamis

is granted, but the progeny would be sterile hybrids.


Mr. Haines' book shows every sign of being the outcome

of much careful research and may be regarded as a very reliable

history of the County's avifauna. It should be specially interest-

ing to Uppinghamians to the memory of whose late master, Dr.

Turing, it is dedicated.



CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ETC.



HOOPOES IN CAPTIVITY.


Sir, — No doubt Mr. Phillipps is right that I was wrong. I mean

with regard to the feeding of my Hoopoes. I think however that if one

gave them heart, which is much more tender and digestible than mere raw

meat, and if one mixed the heart well up in shredded scraps amongst

finely powdered silk-worm cocoons which have been passed through a fine

sieve, adding chopped green food, grated carrot and some good insectivorous

stuff, they might do. All the ingredients must cling more or less to the

shredded heart, so that when the Hoopoes swallow these pieces, a good

proportion of the rest would be bound to go down too.


Last summer I saw two very healthy Hoopoes in the Zoological

Gardens at Hamburg, in the month of July, and they were certainly fully

adult. They were fed upon a mixture of insectivorous food and were in

good feather and condition. And I also saw some under the same conditions

at Frankfurt a/M. In either case the Hoopoes were in cages by themselves.



