344 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



from an elevated position, and with a persistence worthy of a less 

 barbarous utterance. The song-birds of that district are few and 

 timid, and their notes are not varied individually. One strain was 

 so frequent that nearly every Canary in the city had " caught" 

 it. The notes of the Marsh Tit are repeated almost exactly 

 by a closely allied bird, the Black-capped Chicadee, Parus atrl- 

 capillus. 



NOTES ON BIRDS IN KENT. 

 By Boyd Alexander. 



The congregating movement prior to migration is not the 

 least interesting feature in bird-life. Swallows and Martins 

 make an alliance, and they may be seen all day long winging 

 their mazy courses to and fro over the cut corn-fields, and so 

 deep at times do the Swallows pitch their flight that they well- 

 nigh brush the shaggy corn-stalks with their breasts. The Swifts 

 also fly in batches, circling round high trees and towers alike. 

 The shrill sound of the ceaseless screaming of their voices fitfully 

 strikes the ear as these weird-looking birds with their curved 

 wings, sharply quivering, cut through the air, and swinging round 

 the trees with such fine tact and precision that they hardly as 

 much as tickle or scrape the leaves' smooth surface. 



Linnets resort in large flocks to the fallow-fields, especially 

 where charlock grows. The proverb which says that " safety lies 

 in numbers " might well be reversed in the case of this biid. As 

 soon as flocking takes place, the Linnets assume once more their 

 shy habits, and carefully avoid our habitations, a trait also 

 noticeable in other species of a similar timid nature. The deli- 

 cate vermilion that smears the breast of the male Linnet is not 

 attained till the second year. In immature birds a light choco- 

 late colour takes the place of this. 



Families of Red-backed Shrikes are abroad. Stout hedge- 

 rows, whose outgrowing branches serve as perches, or the sunny 

 portions of a wooden fence, are at this time favourite resorts. 

 They flit in close company from bough to bough in front of an 

 intruder, the male parent bird uttering frequently his brisk 

 " chuck." Mimicry is also resorted to, the movements of the 

 Spotted Flycatcher being then very closely imitated, and except 

 for his red-brown mantle and inordinately long tail he might at 



