Birds. 



8813 



they descend to much lower latitudes on the coast of China. I may 

 here remark that a black scoter duck, shot by Capt. Blakiston on the 

 Yangtsze, turned out to be the American black duck (GEdemia ame- 

 ricana, Swainson), and not the European GE. nigra as one would have 

 expected. I have never met with this duck, and have not, therefore, 

 included it in my list. 



The Osprey near Uxbridge. — A fine osprey, probably driven inland by stress of 

 weather, was shot at Uxbridge on the 1st of this month. It had been observed in the 

 neighbourhood for several days before it was killed. The stomach, which I had an 

 opportunity of examining, was quite empty, with the exception of about half an ounce 

 of sand or grit, kept in a moist state by being mixed with gluten, which I suppose 

 must have been swallowed with a fish that had been killed and eaten upon a sandy 

 shore. The bird was in fine plumage, and, when I saw it, was in the hands of Mr. 

 Gardener, of Holborn, for preservation. — J. Edmund Hai ling ; Kingsbury, October 12. 



Osprey in Cambridgeshire. — A fine young female was shot on the Ouze by Mr. 

 Towgood, of Paxton Hall, St. Neots, on the 15th of September last. It had been 

 seen several days previous, fishing in that locality. Upon dissecting it I found the 

 remains of a perch, apparently, by the scales of the fish, from three-quarters to one 

 pound in weight, and from the condition of the bird I have no doubt it had fared well 

 in our neighbourhood.— John Baker ; Cambridge. 



Food of Small Birds. — My observations this year have afforded me ground for 

 hoping that the oft-repeated protests of naturalists and others, against the destruction 

 of small birds, have not been fruitless. This summer I have noticed a fair number of 

 all our common migratory insectivorous birds : whinchats, willow wrens, sedge war- 

 blers, whitethroats, cuckoos, tree pipits and wagtails, have been plentiful. Our resi- 

 dent birds, especially finches and blackbirds, are numerous ; but this is to be attributed 

 partly to the mildness of last winter, and to the abundance of haws and other winter food. 

 But while congratulating ourselves on having done some good, we must not overlook 

 the possibility of reactions. It strikes me that it would be an easy matter for certain 

 birds to be allowed to increase much to our prejudice. Many writers include all the 

 small birds in their commendations to favour ; but it must be obvious that some small 

 birds are much more useful to us than others. The sparrows, for instance, aud per- 

 haps some other granivorous birds — like moles, polecats, adders, and some of the 

 rapacious birds — would soon become too numerous if allowed to multiply uninter- 

 ruptedly, particularly in corn-growing and well-cultivated districts. The sparrow is 

 an active and hardy bird, and does not suffer as much as our insectivorous residents 

 from the severity of our winters. Further, its natural enemies are on the decrease. In 

 regard to its feeding habits, from observations I have carried on the last three years, I 

 am led to infer that its utility to the farmer and the gardener is greatly exaggerated. 

 I believe the number of insects destroyed by the sparrow, as compared with the num- 

 ber destroyed by any insectivorous species, is quite insignificant. I examined the 

 crops of ninety sparrows that had been shot by a keeper on the 27th of June, when 

 insects were numerous, and I did not find a single insect ; nearly all their crops were 

 distended with corn procured from the stacks. In April I noticed sparrows feeding on 



