ftOTES AND QUERIES. 219 



flower and vegetable, were very much above the average both in beauty 

 and productiveness, though the surrounding district was swarming with all 

 descriptions of birds. The Kestrel and White or Barn Owl were specially 

 encouraged to breed in the vicinity, and it was to their relentless pursuit of 

 the mouse tribe by day and night that his garden escaped the depredations of 

 these unnoticed pests. The ordinary keeper always shoots these interesting 

 creatures, though they seldom or never touch young birds, and invariably 

 prefer mice and beetles to any other diet. I do not believe any wild bird 

 destroys buds, or anything else, for the mere love of destruction, as some 

 of your correspondents seem to imply, and if they now and then nip off a 

 bud for the sake of an insect that would not perhaps injure the fruit, this 

 is more than counterbalanced by the numbers of destructive insects they 

 consume. A good many of our small birds will eat ripe fruit when they 

 get the chance, but a little protection will prevent this, and, after all, they 

 have a right to a little, as by their consumption of millions of grubs they 

 have helped to produce the crop. — Geoffrey Ellis (Leicester)." 



[Mr. Ellis is not quite correct in stating that the Kestrel and Barn Owl 

 seldom or never touch young birds. On examining the pellets cast up by 

 them, which furnish the best evidence in regard to the nature of their food, 

 we have repeatedly found the skulls and other bones of Sparrows and 

 Greenfinches, in addition to the remains of mice, voles, and shrews. — Ed.] 



Former Occurrence of the Collared Pratincole in Essex.— I have 

 just investigated the history of an Essex specimen of this rare bird, which 

 seems to have been completely overlooked by ornithologists, though it was 

 briefly recorded at the time of its occurrence in ■ The Field' (August 31st, 

 1861), by Mr. Henry Shaw, taxidermist, of High Street, Shrewsbury, who 

 states that it " was shot by Capt. the Hon. G. R. C. Hill, about a fortnight 

 back, in Essex, whilst out duck-shooting ; it is a fine bird, and had much 

 the appearance of having recently sat upon eggs. The stomach was full of 

 small beetles. Its appearance on the wing was much like that of the genus 

 Hirundo. It is now with me for preservation, and will in due course be 

 placed in the collection of the Viscount Hill at Haw kstone." Lord Hill has 

 been good enough to inform me that the specimen, an adult female, is still 

 in his possession, while his brother, the Hon. Geoffrey R. C. Hill, writes 

 me that he cannot now remember the name of the parish wherein he shot 

 the bird, but that at the time he " was shooting ' flappers ' on the Kelvedon 

 Marshes with Mr. Philip Bennett (who was in the Blues with me at that 

 time), and I rather fancy the marshes belonged to, or were leased by, his 

 father, of Rougham Hall, Bury St. Edmunds. There was a decoy there in 

 those days, and very close to that, as we were walking up the side of the 

 ditches after ducks, I saw a single bird coming over my head. Not 

 knowing what it was, I shot at it, and not being any the wiser after I had 



