116 TfiE ZOOLOGIST. 



Garganey at Rainworth, Notts.— Though I have already mentioned 

 in ■ The Field ' that a pair of these ducks were seen on the lake here in 

 April last year, I should like to note in * The Zoologist ' that they were 

 seen on April 9th and 10th. This was the first time they had ever been 

 observed on any of the ponds about here, although we have looked for them 

 for years, and their occurrence therefore is of some interest. — J. Whitaker 

 (Rainworth, Notts). 



Mobbing by Crows. — Most naturalists will remember Bates's account 

 of being mobbed by Curl-crested Toucans, Pteroglossus Beauhamaisii, on 

 the Amazons. Birds less gregarious will sometimes do this ; of course it is 

 easy, by holding up a young bird, to bring down the parents within a few 

 feet from among a crowd of Gulls and Terns on their breeding-grounds ; 

 but the Crow is, as a rule, not abundant or bold enough in this country to 

 assemble for the purpose of mobbing anyone. In Denmark, however, in 

 the fine beech and fir woods that stretch for about SO miles north of 

 Copenhagen, from Charlottenlund to Hornbaek, the Hooded Crow, Corvus 

 cornice, is very abundant, and exceedingly impudent and tame, being but 

 little molested there. I was once fairly driven away and routed by them. 

 I had ascended a tree in order to inspect a nest of young Crows, which 

 were so well fledged, however, that, on my head appearing over the edge of 

 the nest, they all fluttered out, two falling to the ground near the foot of 

 the tree. I accordingly descended, and, after a little trouble, caught one 

 of them and proceeded to examine it. At first it kept quite quiet, until I 

 tried to open its beak to examine the colour of the palate. This, however, 

 seemed more than it could stand, and it called out so noisily, and so startled 

 me with its suddenness and violence, that I almost let it drop to the ground. 

 At once the "other young ones began screaming also, and in a few seconds 

 the parents appeared, settling overhead, and adding to the din. Presently 

 two others came hurrying up, then more and more, until there must have 

 been upwards of two dozen, and the noise — to use an expressive Scoticism 

 — was fairly "deaving." The fury of the birds was remarkable; they were 

 simply convulsed with rage, and could hardly remain quiet on the branches. 

 The noise became so unendurable that I was forced to beat a speedy and 

 ignominious retreat. In this case, of course, the cry of the young bird was 

 the exciting cause ; but these Crows do not always require that incentive, 

 for once coming suddenly to the edge of a small swampy savannah in the 

 forest, I surprised a flock of thirty or forty feeding ; these at once rose on 

 the wing, but, instead of flying away, began to wheel about and follow me 

 along the edge of the wood, each vying with its neighbour in abusive out* 

 cry. This only lasted for a minute or so, for — like a flash — a little male 

 Hobby, whose mate was sitting on eggs close at hand, appeared amongst 

 them, and, with a few lightning-like " stoops " right and left, dispersed the 

 entire flock. They seemed frightened at the Hobby, though they torment 



