STEIX ALUCO, Linn. 



(The Tawny Owl.) 



May 22, 1867, observed that a couple of Tawny Owls have cleared the 

 Starlings off pretty well all round as food for the young owls ; but the 

 Nuthatches maintain their safety in the vicinity (w^iich is a line of elm trees 

 in Huntingdonshire). 



TURDUS MERULA, Linn. 



(Blackbird.) 



In ' A Book about Clergy,' by John Cordy Jeaffreson, B.A., vol. ii. p. 296, 

 note, appears: — "In his 'Life of Cranmer,' Strype says, 'In the year 1541 

 the Archbishop and most of the Bishops and divers other Deans and Arch- 

 deacons made a constitution for moderating the fare of their tables ; viz., of 

 birds (Sec. of lesser sorts (as capons, pheasants, conies, w^oodcocks) but two 

 in a dish ; of lesser sorts still (as of partridges) an Archbishop three, 

 a Bishop and other degrees under him two. The number of blackbirds was 

 also stinted to six at an Archbishop's table, and to four for a Bishop; but 

 of little birds (as larks, snipes, &c.) the number was not to exceed tw-elve." 

 Here it is worthy of remark that Snipes, being so common, took rank with 

 Blackbirds — somewhat contrary to the changed state of things now. Also 

 we cannot fail to observe (for which we have the authority of the song) that 

 four and twenty Blackbirds baked in a pie, made a dainty dish for a king. 

 It is pretty certain that the enclosures and hedgerow^s have greatly increased 



