2'24 ■ THE ZOOLOGIST. 



summer of 1895. I feel sure that if Mr. Stanley Lewis will keep this 

 Woodpecker in captivity, he will endorse my explanation of the way in 

 which the sound which has interested him is produced. There is nothing 

 so satisfactory as personal experience. — H. A. Macpheeson (Pitlochry, 

 N.B.). 



Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus) in Shropshire. — On May 18th 

 a specimen of this rare Falcon was shot near Shrewsbury, and I examined 

 it in the flesh. It is an immature female measuring 12 in. long; wing not 

 quite 10 in. Amongst the contents of the stomach was an unmistakable 

 Shrew [Sorex vulgaris). Few birds of prey except Owls will eat Shrews, 

 probably because of their odour ; so it is of interest to find that these form 

 part of the diet of F. vespertinus. As the specific name indicates, this 

 species seeks its prey chiefly in the evening. It has occurred twice 

 previously in Shropshire [cf. 'Fauna of Shropshire,' p. 137). — H. E. 

 FoEREST (Shrewsbury). 



Nesting of the Pigmy Falcon (Microhierax eutolmus) in Upper 

 Burma. — The simple but wasteful system of taungya cultivation is pursued 

 by a large proportion of the inhabitants of the villages in Upper Burma, 

 and also by the wild tribes — Karens, Shans, Lishaws, &c. — who keep, as a 

 rule, to the vfilder tracts in the mountains. In cultivation by- taungya, a 

 patch of forest is chosen, often containing valuable timber, and the whole 

 of the growth on it is felled, and left for a couple of months to dry, and then 

 burnt, the ashes forming a rich manure. Occasionally a number of the 

 larger hardwood trees, such as Pyinkado (Xylia dolabriformis), Pyinraa 

 {Lagerstrcemiaflos-regincB), &c., are only girdled — i. e. the bark and sap-wood 

 cut through all round, and the tree allowed to die and decay standing. These 

 solitary dead trees in taungya areas are much frequented for nesting pur- 

 poses by the various wood-boring birds — Woodpeckers, N uthatches. Bar- 

 bets, &c. On April 23rd, 1899, in a deserted taungya alongside the high 

 road leading from Thabeitkyin, on the bauks of the Irrawaddy above 

 Mandalay, to Mogok, the site of the famous ruby mines of Upper Burma, 

 I saw a Pigmy Falcon {Microhierax eutolmus) disappear into a hole on the 

 under side of a branch excavated in a large dead tree. The dead and 

 splitting bark and some horizontal lower branches made the ascent to the 

 nest easy, and I was able to climb up and inspect the nest-hole. This was 

 evidently once made by a Barbet, but whether the rightful owner had been 

 ejected by the Falcon, or whether it was an old Barbet's nest-hole, I could 

 not say ; anyhow, it was occupied by the little Falcon. On enlarging the 

 hole I was able to look into the nest, which was laid at the end of a tunnel 

 dug out of the wood, about fifteen inches long. Nest, properly speaking, 

 there was none, but where the tunnel ended in a slightly enlarged and oval 

 chamber there was placed a fairly firm pad of chips of wood, a few leaves. 



