NOTES AND QUEBIES. 188 



Songs of Birds affected by Weather.— I was much interested in one 

 of the Rev. W. Warde Fowler's observations in the March issue of ■ The 

 Zoologist ' (ante, p. 135), for the somewhat quaint reason that it is irrecon- 

 cilable with my own experience. 1 am such an admirer of Mr. Fowler's 

 books that I feel a diffidence in taking exception to any of his statements, 

 especially as he is known to be such a close and diligent observer of birds ; 

 but I am far from concurring with him in the opinion that " our resident 

 species are not affected in any degree by the temperature in regard to 

 singing." Speaking generally, for about a month previously to March '20th, 

 Blackbirds, Song-Thrushes, Mistle-Thrushes, Starlings, Redbreasts, Hedge- 

 Accentors, House-Sparrows, and Wrens had combined every single morning 

 to enchant my ears with a most delightful vernal concert. Xot only was 

 their minstrelsy resonant and prolonged from daybreak until the morning 

 was well advanced, but again, as the gloaming drew on, sundry of the 

 eight species mentioned above would musically assert their claims to 

 notice. On the morning of March 20th sixteen degrees of frost were 

 registered here, and on the three following mornings upwards of twenty 

 degrees were registered, snow falling on the Thursday (March 23rd), the 

 day on which I am penning these lines. During these four days, neither 

 in the morning nor in the evening has there been any singing whatsoever 

 on the part of any one of the species, and the contrast, after the flow of 

 song that was so strenuously maintained day after day during the balmy 

 weather associated with the preceding weeks, is naturally brought out into 

 the very boldest relief. Nor, I must admit, is this my most recent experi- 

 ence at variance with what has gone before. I still see all the species I 

 have enumerated round about the house, but they appear in no mood to 

 sing, nor do they. Whereof the cause? Surely, surely, the great fall in 

 the temperature. — H. S. Davenport (Melton Mowbray). 



The Covering of Eggs by Nesting Birds.— In connection with the 

 discussion that has been carried on in these w Notes and Queries " as to the 

 covering up of eggs by nesting birds, I may mention that I have noticed 

 this done by Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo). In the end of May, 1895, 

 I visited a colony of these birds on an islet off the coast of Sutherland. I 

 took a photograph of a group of three nests which were placed side by side 

 on the cliff. When we first approached the spot the birds flew off from 

 the nests, leaving the eggs exposed to view ; but, on returning to the same 

 spot half an hour afterwards, after exploring the rest of the island, we found 

 that in two cases the eggs had been covered up with reeds and grass, 

 evidently with the intention of shielding them from observation.— H. C. 

 Monro (Stratfield Save, Hants). 



Destruction of Norfolk Birds : a Rejoinder. — In ' The Zoologist ' for 

 March [ante, p. 114), I notice the following paragraph in connection with 



