25(56 Birds. 



of civilized England. I heartily agree in denouncing with Mr. Bree that barbarous 

 system now so prevalent, of destroying every rare bird immediately on its arrival 

 amongst us. I do not object to collecting birds or their eggs, or any other object 

 of natural history for the sake of forming public or private collections (but let it not be 

 wholesale butchery), for by such it is that we gain a knowledge and a love for the 

 examination and admiration of the wonderful works of the Almighty. Mr. Bree 

 alludes to his encouragement of birds around his dwelling. Allow me to add also 

 that I, since my residence at Milton Abbey, do encourage all manner of birds around 

 my cottage, and in our plantations and woods, not suffering the keepers to molest 

 them, whatever their opinions may be as to their destructive, or useful properties, 

 For your correspondents' information, I will enumerate those which build and rear 

 their young within forty yards of my dwelling: thrush, blackbird, common wren, 

 golden-crested wren, and robin which daily with its young visits my table ; the 

 old bird hops in first, and having glanced around her to see that all is safe, gives 

 one or two trust-notes, when in fly the four young ones, and having partaken of 

 what crumbs have been thrown them and been satisfied, decamp : nor is this all, the 

 old bird during the rearing of its young, came four times daily for food for them, 

 and has^ carried off pieces of crumb half as large as itself. Also the starling, rook, 

 jackdaw, hedge sparrow, house sparrow, who like the robin visits our table. Nut- 

 hatch, common creeper, greenfinch, goldfinch, chaffinch, ring-dove, blue tit, long- 

 tailed tit, jay, gray wagtail, raven, barn owl, &c. Not one of these birds is molested, 

 and it is no uncommon thing to sit and look out of the window on the lawn in front 

 of the cottage in which I am now writing, and see rooks, jackdaws, starlings, robins, 

 house sparrows, wagtails, blackbirds, and thrushes, all feeding together, within twenty 

 yards of my door. So tame are the jackdaws, that they will often to our amusement, 

 pilfer meat bones from our Newfoundland dog, who seems to take no notice of them ; 

 and at this moment while I am writing, three of the common creepers are diligently 

 searching for insects on the trunk of a beech-tree four yards from my door. The birds 

 of the above number which build and rear their young at the greatest distance from 

 me, are the raven, ring-dove and jay. Within this last twelve months, the sparrow- 

 hawk has made bold to take up his quarters within three minutes walk of the cot- 

 tage on the left of a large beech-tree ; and so familiar have the old birds become, that 

 they will perch on the iron railings, till one is within a few yards of them. Some of 

 our old rooks before their young leave them, regularly every year pay a visit to 

 the housekeeper's windows, where they are regularly fed ; they alight first on the 

 branches of a large Catalpa-tree in front, and commence their serenade: the window 

 being then thrown open, the birds with their young alight on the ground, and walk 

 towards the windows from which they receive their reward ; this has occurred to the 

 admiration of many of my friends for the last three years: nor is this all in the 

 character of this much-persecuted bird, for those above described, as soon as hard 

 weather sets in, repay the housekeeper with their company, and are, I am happy to 

 say, received with the same good feeling as on their first visit. — J. Mcintosh ; Milton 

 Abbey, August 4, 1849. 



The Eayle Owl (Strix Bubo) breeding in confinement. — On the 1st May I commu- 

 nicated to the 'Zoologist' the curious fact of a pair of eagle owls (Zool. 2452) in the 

 possession of Mr. Edward Fountaine of this' parish, having produced in confinement 

 three eggs, which were then in process of incubation. I have now the additional 

 pleasure of staling, that the eggs have been hatched, and the young birds safely reared. 



