870 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



their experience is the same in other parts of Britain. Nightjars here seem 

 to have a partiality for feeding upon HepialidtB, arriving about the time when 

 H. velleda appears, and not leaving the heaths for any considerable distance 

 until the end of June or beginning of July, when it is to be seen in the 

 fields near the village feeding upon H. humuli. — E. P. Butterfield 

 (Wilsden, near Bradford). 



The Delinquencies of Starlings.— Mr. Fox (ante, p. 269) asks whether 

 others have observed feuds to exist between Swifts and Starlings. Such 

 quarrels are not at all of uncommon occurrence, and in one haunt at least 

 Sturnus vulgaris, is frequently ejected on the arrival of Cypselus apus not- 

 withstanding that possession is nine points of the law, being apparently 

 overpowered by mere numbers as I should think, for it is hardly conceivable 

 that Swifts could single-handed be a match for Starlings. — E. P. Butter- 

 field (Wilsden, near Bradford). 



Starlings nesting in Fir Trees. — Duriug May last I found small 

 colonies of Sturnus vulgaris nesting in the fir trees in Burnt Wood, 

 Emborough, near Wells ; every lateral branch at an elevation above eight 

 or nine feet was piled two or three inches deep with dead grass, hay, 

 shavings, &c, and on this were deposited the eggs. I climbed up and 

 examined a clutch of four eggs. The gamekeeper informed me that they 

 nested there annually, which perhaps accounted for such a collection of 

 rubbish. — Stanley Lewis (Wells, Somerset). 



Rooks in the West-End of London. — Some time since (Zool. 1897, 

 p. 87) I wrote that I feared Corvus frugilegus had ceased to breed in 

 the West-End of Loudon ; but I now have the pleasure to record that 

 this year there have been three nests in a plane tree close to Park Lane, 

 not in the park, but opposite to it. It seems somewhat strange that they 

 should choose such a site when the park was so near. — J. Young (64, 

 Hereford Road, Bayswater). 



Peculiar Conduct of the Woodcock (Scolopax rusticula).— It has 

 been stated that the female of this species carries her young between her 

 legs. I saw a female rise on a moor in this locality on the evening of June 

 8th, having her legs hanging down, and the hind part of her body being 

 also in a drooping position. Three other birds — all smaller — soon rose 

 from the same point, and flew in quite the opposite direction, their bodies 

 being in the ordinary flying position. All the birds flew about sixty yards, 

 and the female carried on a continual chirping, evidently feigning great 

 pain. I followed up to where she alighted, when she rose and went away 

 in the direction of the others, flying in the same position as at first. I 

 have no doubt but that all this is a peculiar habit for protecting the young 



