1696 Birds. 



about a fortnight, died, I believe, from pure inanition. Besides the plaintive cry 

 above mentioned, the honey buzzard has another and more varied note, apparently of 

 alarm. — Gordon Joseph Forster ; Newton-by-the- Sea, August 29th, 1845. (Extracted 

 from the Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club). 



Night Conversation of Owls. — Left, whilst standing by my fire, to the uninterrupted 

 action of a busy imagination, I was struck by the apparently intelligent manner in 

 which the owls and other night birds answered each other. Every now and then an 

 owl to the north, not more perhaps than two hundred yards from the camp, would put 

 his questions in a rather startling and distinct manner, and after a measured interval 

 of time, the response, equally distinct, would be heard from the south, very near to me ; 

 there being to me, who have a very nice musical ear, a sensible difference in the into- 

 nation and modulation of the two voices. I was very much interested in this ; every- 

 thing connected with Natural History is pleasing to me ; and the effect was exceed- 

 ingly increased by the locality, the adventurous life I was leading, and the hour of the 

 night. But what, more than anything else, excited my imagination, was the know- 

 ledge I possessed that the Indians are such exquisite mimics of natural sounds ; and 

 that one of their tricks, when hovering about a camp, is to imitate the cries of night 

 birds, to lull their intended victims into confidence, and to communicate to each other 

 their observations and intentions. The owl of this part of America is a very gossiping 

 bird : every night numbers of them commence a general hooting, which they continue 

 to a late hour. Milor had told me the first evening, that this was a sign of rainy wea- 

 ther ; but I imagine it is merely a social noise they make, for I have often observed, 

 that when a single owl hoots in the night, if you mock him tolerably well, he is sure to 

 enter into conversation with you. I have also heard them hoot by day when the sky 

 is much overclouded, the light being then much more agreeable to them than that of 

 a bright sun. — Featherstonhaug/is Canoe Voyage. 



Early appearance of the Sand Martin near Penzance. — I observed this afternoon 

 more than a dozen of this species, sporting over some water and meadow-land, near 

 Trevethorn House, which lies in the immediate neighbourhood of Sand Hills. — 

 Edward Hearle Rodd ; Penzance, March 29th, 1847. 



Nudity of the Base of the Rook's Beak. — This subject having again been noticed 

 in the ' Zoologist,' (Zool. 1638), I beg to add a fact which came under my own obser- 

 vation. It is well-known to many a traveller, that until within these few years a large 

 elm tree stood in the middle of this town, where 



" High on its top, a congregated throng 

 Of rooks assembling, yearly rear'd their young." 

 Early in the year 1842, this tree was cut down, to make room for a new Town Hall, 

 now standing by the spot. The rooks had already assembled to prepare for nesting, 

 and I, being anxious to obtain a specimen or two of the inhabitants of this ill-fated 

 tree, shot two early in the morning of its destruction, as the birds were flying to and 

 fro ; one of these was evidently an old bird ; the other, I guess to be a bird of the pre- 

 vious season. In the latter specimen, although the throat is nearly bare, the fea- 

 thers above are full, and cover the nostrils. The two specimens are still in a glass- 

 case, with two starlings, occupants of holes in the larger limbs, perched on branches of 

 their favorite tree. It was to many a subject of regret that this fine old ornament 

 should be levelled to the ground ; but such was its fate. On Valentine's Day the tree 

 was sold, as it stood, by public auction ; on the 17th of February the hewing was com- 

 menced, and on the 18th, about lour o'clock in the afternoon, it fell with a heavy 



