8164 



Birds, 



on the top of a lilac tree which commands one of the rooms, looking- out for recog- 

 nition. Poor Hope ! he is also gone, and his death was doubly grievous, inasmuch as 

 it was the dark deed of a young puppy which, on the point of being entirely broken in 

 to magpies, committed the deed. Brownie was of course well flogged every day, with 

 the dead bird before his eyes, for a week ; and I will be bound to say he will never 

 again, to the day of his death, injure another feather. Scrub is the next of my pets that 

 deserves notice, inasmuch as I am inditing obituaries, and this is the last I have to 

 record. Scrub came to me in a vile condition of feather and flesh, from neglect aud 

 confinement. He was turned out among the rest, and very soon picked up meat and 

 plumage. As he grew in strength and stature, so did he increase in power over the 

 others. He was the bully of the family, and very soon evinced his power by lording it 

 over them all. He was withal a shy, cunning fellow, and had always an eye to his 

 own interest. His vocal powers, however, consisted principally in imitating to per- 

 fection the cackling of a hen : so earnestly would he do this that I have listened to 

 him with doubting ears myself; I never heard any imitation so perfect. He was 

 deficient, however, in social qualities, and never became very tame. His deatfi was in 

 this wise : — A patient and kind officer in the Highlands of Scotland was good enough 

 to send me a pinioned peregrine falcon which he had brought down when shooting 

 grouse. I kept him at first in an out-house, which I suppose was damp, for one 

 morning, to my horror, I discovered the poor falcon unable to stand, and paralysed 

 in both legs. I brought him into the garden and placed him in the sun, p;oing imme- 

 diately in search of a coop. I returned just in time to save his life, for I found Scrub 

 mounted on his back, and hammering away at his head with his beak. The poor 

 peregrine was quite helpless, and would have been brained in no time had I not 

 returned. Of course I expressed my indignation, and Snob was glad enough to 

 escape with a whole skin to the top of a lignum vitce tree, where he remained barking 

 and scolding while I secured the falcon under the coop. Exposed to the sun and air, 

 and well supplied with bird-food, the falcon gradually recovered ; but to my surprise 

 I found that Snob had upon more than one occasion got through the bars of the coop 

 to steal the remains of peregrine's dinner. It did not, however, again venture to 

 attack the latter, and the day of retribution for its own temerity was at hand. The 

 falcon got quite well and strung upon its legs, a fact Scrub did not fully estimate, for 

 one day, hearing a great chatter in that part of the garden, I went down just in time 

 to see the end of a meal which peregrine was then making, the subject being the 

 unhappy and unfortunate Scrub. — C. R. Bree ; Colchester, August 10, 1862. 



JJeposilion of Eggs by the Cuckoo. By H. L. Saxby, Esq. 



The observations made by Mr. Hogan (Zool. 7935) upon this 

 highly interesting question, together with the passage quoted by him 

 in support of his views, are so conclusive that, but for his invitation 

 to other ornithologists, further remark might be considered almost 

 unnecessary. However, as 1 have devoted much time, during the 

 past fifteen years, to the study of the habits of the cuckoo, and have 

 upon the whole been somewhat fortunate in the opportunities of 



