Birds. 2303 



(some years ago) dug swallows out of banks in winter, while widening the ditches in 

 the brooks, &c. — J. B. Ellman; Battel, September 23, 1848. 



Swallows, and a Plea on their Behalf. — May 4th, 1848, saw the first swallow, a so- 

 litary bird. About the 8th of May saw another at a different place. May 12th, saw 

 two swallows together this morning, and four in company about the same spot in the 

 evening. After the last date swallows gradually become more numerous, though not 

 only was their first appearance unusually late, but up to the period of my quitting 

 Clifton, June 13th, very few birds, comparatively, were to be seen. Indeed my im- 

 pression is, that, generally, the race of swallows has greatly diminished, owing, par- 

 tially at least, to the silly and cruel practice of shooting them. Silly, because they 

 are not good practice in the art of shooting, since, by taking them at a particular mo- 

 ment of their flight, they may be killed with the greatest certainty ; while the same 

 individual could not hit a sparrow or a partridge. The pastime of swallow shooting 

 must also be pronounced wanton cruelty, because they not simply are among the most 

 inoffensive of the feathered tribe, but even must be acknowledged valuable benefac- 

 tors to us, when we recollect the myriads of troublesome and noxious insects which — 

 their sole food — every swallow, old and young, consumes during its short sojourn with 

 us. In proportion as the birds are destroyed of course those insects will increase, — a 

 just retribution for the cruelty now reprobated. There is another consideration, too, 

 which appears to be utterly disregarded by swallow-shooters ; it is the number of nest- 

 lings which they, for mere amusement, render orphans, and condemn to the lingering 

 and painful death of cold and starvation. — Arthur Hussey ; Clifton, Gloucestershire. 



A Martin (Hirundo urbica) ivith the middle Tail-feather white. — I shot a house- 

 martin, last August which had the middle feather of the tail perfectly white. — George 

 Wolley ; Huyton, September 29, 1848. 



Partiality of the Common Guinea-fowl for Toads. — Most animals have, I believe, 

 a deep-rooted antipathy to the toad. The dog turns away from it in disgust ; and I 

 have more than once seen my own dog, when urged to attack one, drop the reptile from 

 his mouth in such a manner as to show that he felt the effects of the acrid excretion 

 which exudes from its skin when irritated. That the guinea-fowl, however, has a par- 

 tiality to toads is a fact which may not, perhaps, have been generally observed. I 

 have constantly seen our guinea-fowls attack a toad, and have watched them beating 

 it for some minutes against the ground with their beaks, until almost motionless, when 

 they bolt it. I have never seen them serve a frog thus : either from its greater agility 

 it keeps out of their reach, or they prefer the toad. I have often seen ducks, on the 

 contrary, eat frogs, but not toads. — A. B. Hemsworth ; Thropham Hall, Norfolk, Oc- 

 tober 13, 1848. 



Description of a Sandpiper which was shot near Bootle, in September, 1847. — This 

 bird was shot as it rose from a pit, in company with some snipes, by a man named 

 John Ashton, then in the employment of Mr. George Thomas, bird-stuffer, London 

 Koad, Liverpool, in whose possession it now is. The striking peculiarity of this bird 

 is the great length of its legs and neck. Beak one inch and one-eighth ; from the 

 point to the gape one inch and three-eighths, nearly black, darkest at the tip ; hides 

 nearly black; over the eye a white streak; the top of the head, beak and wing-coverts 

 dark brown, with light brown spots, triangular in shape on the margin of each feather, 

 some of the spots more elongated, and those on the wing-coverts nearly white ; pri- 

 maries black, the shaft of the first white; upper tail-coverts white, barred with dark 

 brown, the centre ones having three bars, the outer ones but two; tail-feathers white, 



