472 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



subject, and having most carefully re-read the whole of the articles in 

 question, I still fail to see that I misrepresented him. I cannot understand 

 how Mr. Aplin distinguishes the Robin and Starling from the other autumn 

 singers (Zool. 1894, p. 410); nor do I know how these two species can 

 11 strike up in October or November " unless they have previously been 

 silent. What I contend for is that they begin to sing in July and early 

 August, and never cease till stopped by cold in winter. I am still firmly 

 of that opinion. Like Mr. Aplin, I have found the Willow Wren silent 

 in the last two weeks of June (Zool. 1894, p. 411, and August last) ; but I 

 emphatically aver that the bird sings in numbers early in July (not in the 

 hottest midday hours), and ends rather than commences in mid-August. I 

 live opposite a thicket where Willow Wrens swarm. Early in July I could 

 hear a dozen or more in full song at the same time, making a sweet chime 

 with their repeated cadences. Will some other correspondents say which 

 of us is the more correct ? Let me state in conclusion that I fully appre- 

 ciate the conspicuous excellence of Mr. Apliu's notes on birds generally, 

 but I thought him wrong for once ; hence this correspondence. — Charles 

 A. Witchell (Eltham, Kent). 



Hours at which some Birds commence to Sing. — Last April, while 

 staying in Gloucestershire, my cousin and I arose early one morning to 

 hear the birds begin to sing, and to see which bird began singing first. We 

 got up at about a quarter past one a.m., went out at 1.45 a.m., and posted 

 ourselves in a small field between the garden and a little wood, so as to hear 

 as many birds as possible. The following are my rough notes taken down 

 at the time, which I thought might interest readers of ' The Zoologist ' : — 

 1.45 a.m. Went out. Very cold. Not a sound. Pitch dark. 2 a.m. One 

 Nightingale singing. 2.25 a.m. Cocks crowing all round (the cocks crowed 

 spasmodically about every quarter of an hour). 2.30 a.m. Dawn just be- 

 ginning to break. A Sparrow chirped once in the ivy against an outhouse. 

 2.40 a.m. Nightingales singing beautifully. Not light enough to read by. 

 8 a.m. No sound but Nightingales. 3.20 a.m. Robin calling and Cuckoo 

 crying. 3.25 a.m. Redstarts singing and calling in garden. 3.27 a.m. 

 Larks began to soar and sing all round. Scarcely light enough to read by. 

 3.30 a.m. Dead silence for about five minutes. One Nightingale singing 

 far away in a larch wood. 3.35 a.m. Blackbirds began to sing in the garden. 

 Sky Larks still singing and Cuckoo crying. 3.40 a.m. Thrushes singing. 

 3.47 a.m. Robin singing. 3.55 a.m. Quite light. No stars. Thrushes 

 singiug on all sides, making quite a deafening noise. 4 a.m. Great Tit 

 singing up and down note. Wren singing. 4.10 a.m. ChifTchafT singing. 

 4.20 a.m. Starlings whistling. We did not hear a Willow Wren at all, 

 although they abound in the wood ; but their song was probably drowned 

 bv the Thrushes.— Bernard B. Riviere (82, Fiuchley Road, N.W.), 



