056 Birds. 



tion is unsociable, and when a tame dove alights near him, he utters an angry chatter- 

 ing note, and will not rest until he has driven the intruder away. This expression of 

 displeasure is his only note, excepting on three or four occasions, when he has been 

 heard to utter a loud sound like the sharp bark of a little dog. — A. F. B. ; Lay ton, 

 May 18, 1844. 



Note on the great grey Shrike. I saw an individual of this species on Lilley-hoo 

 common, near Hitchin, the 15th of last June. The bird was very shy : it had been 

 seen in the same locality a few weeks previously. I could not find a nest, though I 

 suppose it must be breeding, as the season was so far advanced. A friend of mine in- 

 forms me a specimen was seen near Tottenham, about the same time. — J. Heppen- 

 stall ; Upperthorpe, near Sheffield, June 28, 1844. 



Notes on the Carrion Crow. When cutting down grass in hay-harvest, mowers un- 

 avoidably lay bare numerous eggs of the pheasant, partridge, and landrail, which the 

 carrion crow (ever alive to an opportunity of gratifying his appetite) most eagerly de- 

 vours. Nor does his gluttony terminate with things inanimate. A friend assured me 

 that once, whilst walking in the fields, he heard above his head a loud, shrill, shriek- 

 ing cry, and looking upwards, beheld a young leveret firmly clutched in the talons of 

 a carrion crow ; nor could all the shouts and manoeuvres which he made, induce the 

 bird to relinquish his hold, but sailed off triumphantly with his prize. This bird will 

 devour frogs, toads, and even lizards, but not unless his more usual food is scarce ; 

 and once or twice I have seen one banqueting upon stale fish. — John Joseph Briggs ; 

 King^s Newton, Melbourne. 



Notes on the Rook. The rook is very abundant hereabouts, and numbers are reared 

 annually in the rookeries of Calke and Donnington, and the tall noble fir-trees of Mel- 

 bourne gardens. They are observed to frequent their nesting-trees generally about 

 the beginning of March, but do not commence building in earnest till about the 18th. 

 Young rooks abound in May. These birds are known to desert their nesting-trees 

 without any visible cause, after having occupied them for a very considerable number 

 of years. They are also said never to build on any except those which are still grow- 

 ing (or after they have arrived at maturity), both of which circumstances may be ac- 

 counted for in the following manner. Trees still growing, by shooting forth young 

 twigs annually, afford the rooks a better means whereby their nests may be attached 

 to them ; while, on the contrary, those on the decline have their summits composed 

 of dead, dried branches, on which the nests have little hold, and are consequently lia- 

 ble to be blown down by every hurricane. Carpenters and woodmen sometimes turn 

 these habits to good account, when determining the proper age for cutting down rook- 

 ery timber, deeming it quite ready for the axe when these birds forsake it for another 

 habitation. — Id. 



Anecdote of a pair of Missel Thrushes twice using the same Nest. A pair of missel 

 thrushes built a nest in a low shrub in a neighbour's garden, and brought off' their 

 young; since which the hen laid four more eggs, but after sitting some time, deserted 

 the nest, in consequence of its cracking nearly in two. It is the first instance within 

 my knowledge of a bird laying twice in the same nest. — Frederick Bond ; Kingsbury 

 June 13, 1844. 



Note on Redivings and Fieldfares. It is not an unusual practice with these birds, 

 when a deep fall of snow takes place, or the weather increases in severity, to retire for 

 a few weeks until it has vanished, and again return to their former haunts. Birds are 

 greatly influenced in their manners and actions by weather and food. — J. J. Briggs. 



