NOTES AND QUERIES. 313 



question. Yarrell and Howard Saunders say specifically that they do 

 eat snails, while Hudson goes farther and says that the bird "ham- 

 mers the snails against a stone to break the shells," which statement 

 is repeated by Stonham in his ' Birds of the British Islands,' just now 

 issuing. But, I submit, is it not possible that these statements have 

 been made on the natural supposition that because the Song-Thrush 

 eats snails, therefore the Blackbird must ? I should like, however, to 

 give one more piece of negative evidence. A certain lady I know of 

 has a garden where both Song-Thrushes and Blackbirds are common. 

 On the coping round a lawn she has been in the habit of placing all 

 the snails she can find for the benefit of any birds that like that sort 

 of food. The Song-Thrushes visit this coping daily throughout the 

 snail season, and, with repeated hammerings, soon achieve the " in- 

 nards" of the snails; but contrariwise the Blackbirds — not one of 

 them comes near the place. Surely, if it is true that snails form part 

 of the Blackbird's usual food, it would make the most of this easy way 

 of obtaining it. I should be glad to hear what the experience of others 

 is on this question, for I may have been lacking in observation, or at 

 any rate unfortunate in my opportunities. — A. H. Meiklejohn (1, Col- 

 ville Houses, London, W.). 



Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla) in Surrey. — A pair of 

 these birds appeared here this year on April 14th. They were very 

 tame, and allowed a quite near approach, frequently darting down 

 from the trees, and settling on the ground a few yards from where I 

 was watching. The male bird was seen most during the day, the hen 

 keeping more apart, and in the shelter of the bushes and trees sur- 

 rounding a small pond. The place is exactly suited to their nesting 

 habits, and I hoped very much that they would remain, but they moved 

 on during the evening, and were not seen again. The last occurrence 

 of this species in this district, of which I have a record, was one seen 

 at Enton Pond, near Witley, on April 29th, 1891. It is a very rare 

 visitor to this county. — G. H. Eastwood (Whipley Manor, Bramley). 



Bramblings in April. — Mr. Cummings asks if Bramblings {Fringilla 

 montifringilla) were noticed this year in April. On the 11th I was in 

 South Oxon, walking down the Ieknield Way from Watlington, in 

 order to see if there were any summer migrants on the banks of the 

 Thames. Just before I got to the corner of Ewelme Cow-Common, I 

 saw a score or more of Bramblings flying backwards and forwards be- 

 tween an empty cattle-yard and an arable field, along the top and back 

 of a tall hedge. There might have been more of them, for the hedge 

 made it difficult to see. Some of those I saw were in fine spring 

 Zool. 4th ser. vol. X., August, 1906. 2 B 



