NOTES AND QUERIES. 



155 



Pipistrelle (P. pipistrellus). — Quite common and numerous. 



Owing to the notices which have appeared of the occurrence of 

 various species of Bats in these caves (by Mr. J. G. Millais in P. Z. S., 

 1901, and by myself in ' The Zoologist' for 1906), Mr. Noble is now 

 inundated with requests (even from perfect strangers) for a consign- 

 ment of Bats, or for permission to come and hunt personally ; but, 

 as he wishes to protect the Bats and not to exterminate them, he is 

 now reluctantly obliged to refuse these requests. In my former note 

 (Zool. 1906, p. 186) I considerably overestimated the length of the 

 cave, owing no doubt to the darkness and our slow rate of progress 

 as we examined the surface inch by inch — as I found on a subsequent 

 visit in company with Major Barrett-Hamilton. An old-established 

 colony of Long-eared Bats in my barn here seems to have deserted it, 

 and the only cause I can suggest is that perhaps they disliked the 

 rattle of a chaff-cutter I have introduced, worked by a horse-gear just 

 outside — Alfred Heneage Cocks (Poynetts, Skirmett, near Henley- 

 on-Thames). 



AVE S. 



Where are our Nuthatches ? — I have been struck for a long time 

 past by the absence of Nuthatches in places where they used to be 

 common. In Oxford at this time of year they used to be abundant 

 and noisy ; of late I have not seen or heard a single bird. In this 

 village they used to be in every garden, and would come to the 

 window and take nuts out of a tumbler ; now there is not a single 

 pair here or anywhere near us. Lord Moreton, who lives two miles 

 away, tells me that though he has been looking out carefully at my 

 request, he can only find one pair ; but formerly they used to be 

 almost a nuisance in the breeding season, so abundant and vociferous 

 were they. I wish to know whether other observers of twenty years 

 standing or so have had the same experience. If the diminution is 

 general, its cause should be enquired into so far as is possible. At 

 present I am quite unable to guess it as regards our Nuthatches in 

 this district ; for the trees are as they were, and, so far as I know, 

 the nuts, seeds, insects, &c, which form the regular food of the 

 species are also as they were. Human beings are out of the question 

 as a cause. An epidemic, like the recent Wood-Pigeon diphtheria, is 

 possible, but at present, instead of guessing, I will merely ask the 

 question which heads this note. — W. Warde Fowler (Kingham, 

 Chipping Norton). 



Strange Death of Kingfisher. — On March 2nd or 3rd a female 

 Alcedo ispida was brought to me, with its right leg dislocated at the 



