936 Birds. 



remarkable for its song, which it utters every morning and evening, and not uncom- 

 monly continues the whole night. Each strain is continued in a loud tone for more 

 than a minute, and after a pause it begins anew. While it is singing it is so regard- 

 less of its own safety that any one may approach very near it, but at other times it is 

 suspicious, and takes flight on the slightest alarm." The author (Mr. Rennie, I 

 believe), introduces the above statement, as showing an exception to the rule which 

 generally prevails, of the power of song being confined to the smaller kinds of birds. — 

 Edward Sladen ; Warnford, Hampshire, March 22, 1845. 



Habits of the Kestril. A pair of kestrils being observed breeding in the neighbour- 

 hood of Bicester, a gin-trap was set near the nest, and five males were caught on five 

 successive days ; the three first in fully adult plumage, the fourth still showing marks 

 of the first year's plumage, in the traces of bars on the tail, &c, and the last, a young- 

 male of the year, in complete female plumage, so as to have been mistaken for the 

 female till I pointed out the sex. It is no new fact, that there is always a reserve of 

 unpaired birds ready to supply deficiencies caused by death ; but this curious instance 

 seems to show that there is a degree of precedence observed in the selection, and that 

 the young and immature birds are only called in to fulfil the duties of propagation in 

 failure of those in full vigour and maturity. In another instance, a female kestril had 

 been shot on the nest, and hung suspended on the boughs of the tree, which had 

 entangled her in falling. In the course of the day the male was seen to tear down 

 the carcase of his deceased partner, carry it off to a short distance, and proceed to 

 make a meal of it — a piece of conjugal cannibalism somewhat at variance with the 

 proverb that "hawks don't poke out hawks' een.'' — F. Holme; C. C. C, Oxford, 

 March 26, 1845. 



Nudity of the Rook's Throat and Forehead. The notes on the cause of the nudity of 

 the rook's throat and forehead, by A. E. Knox, Esq., and the result of his experiments 

 published in a former number (Zool. 628), whereby he concludes, from his imprisoned 

 captives retaining their nasal feathers, &c, that the nudity in question is the result of 

 the bird's digging propensities, do not appear to me so satisfactory as to admit of no 

 further doubt. Birds in confinement are often known to lack that perfectness of 

 moult, assumption of colour, or other marks of maturity which their wild brethren 

 exhibit ; nor is this to be wondered at when we consider the great change from their 

 original habits ; pent up in a narrow cage, or confined space, perhaps deprived of 

 much food that is natural to them, and acquiring tastes totally at variance with their 

 fellows, as in the case of Mr. Knox's carnivorous rooks. Mr. Knox commences his 

 observations and experiments by placing eight young rooks under a crate, four of 

 which were subjected to a diet of oatmeal, boiled potatoes, &c, the other four being 

 allowed animal food, which it appears agreed best with them, as the former ones died 

 in a fortnight. The carrion rooks lived on, and with the exception of one which 

 escaped, arrived at the period of their autumn moult, when one of them died ; another 

 perished soon after moulting, and the last survived but to complete the second moult ; 

 neither of these birds showed any appearance of losing their frontal or nasal feathers, 

 thus proving that roohs in confinement do not acquire their mature characters, even in 

 the second year, not that an apprenticeship to their digging parents will alone produce 

 them. . In addition to the doubts as to the result of the experiments by Mr. Knox 

 being perfectly conclusive, it appears a little singular that, supposing the feathers 

 worn away as imagined, at no after period of the bird's life do they show any signs of 

 reproduction, which I conceive they would do if actually destroyed by hard work. 

 Niiture will ever make an effort to restore any part of animal organization that may 



