5688 Birds. 



the public road; tliey also frequently flew into the leafless oak trees, where they 

 remained for a minute or so, singing as if they would crack their throats, which were 

 greatly distended. During the continuance of the song I observed that the body was 

 kept in a horizontal position, the head being brought down to a level with the tail, 

 which was, however, frequently flirted up and down at its conclusion, when they would 

 spring up or hop round, reversing their position on the branch. There was, I am 

 inclined to believe, but one female among them, for I saw but one pair chasing about, 

 the rest flying singly ; and, as they frequently passed over the open space left for the 

 road already referred to, I could not have failed to have noticed it had there been 

 more than one pair; besides, when the two birds entered a bush together the notes of 

 one only was heard to proceed from it. This charming spot, although so retired, is not 

 more than a few hundred yards from the railroad; but I observed that the passing 

 train only caused a momentary cessation to their song, and the shouting and scream- 

 ing of some children on the road did not even appear to be noticed. Their flight is 

 very buoyant, and they thread their way through the hedgerows and bushes with 

 surprising facility, in a somewhat similar manner to that of the hedgesparrow, but 

 then the wings are more expanded. There is a small lake close to the wood, but so 

 completely shut in and fringed by the underwood, as well as overshadowed by the sur- 

 rounding trees, that it would probably be unobserved by any less prying eyes than 

 those of an ornithologist or botanist ; in fact, it is a spot that seems to combine every- 

 thing that can make it desirable as a breeding place; so, if undisturbed, they would 

 dubtless remain in what is probably an old and favourite haunt. — Id. 



Parus major. — Mr. C. R. Bree, in remarking on my note on the tom-tit (Zool. 

 5426), says, " They are not like the woodpecker when thus engaged bringing to the 

 surface insect-food, but they are actually cracking nuts, which is a much more diffi- 

 cult proceeding. The stone of the haw-berry or some other small fruit is carried by 

 Tommy into the tree, and being fixed in some convenient niche,'' &c. ; and, as it 

 appears that the correspondent referred to " observed the whole process," there can be 

 no doubt that the tom-tit is a n«*-cracker, i. e. a cracker of " the stone of a haw-berry 

 or some other small fruit." But if Mr. Bree will only take the trouble of re-perusing 

 my note, he will find that the bird was therein described as having been seen 

 "clinging to one of the topmost branches,'' a very significant expression I should have 

 thought, and one that Mr. Bree cannot fail to observe was intended to show the true 

 position of the bird as suspended by the claws beneath an almost horizontal branch, 

 where it would have been utterly impossible for a tit or any other bird to have fixed a 

 nut ; consequently I must adhere to my former opinion, which was not made public 

 without due consideration. And in taking leave of the subject I have only to add, — 

 I have hitherto made it a rule to allow all remarks that may have been made on my 

 notes to pass unnoticed, and shall continue to do so, unless, as in the present instance, 

 it should appear that my silence may possibly be misconstrued. — Id. 



