General Notes. 



179 



matter a record in the Bulletin as a contribution to bird psycliology. " We 

 often hear," says the writer, " of one-idea people, and the sensations they 

 produce. A one-idea bird, however, is something of a novelty. One of 

 the windows of a liouse in Clinton Street is at present haunted by such 

 a bird in the shape of a Robin. On the morning of May 21st it made 

 its dehut from the window-sill. From the first this has been its mode 

 of procedure. It alights on the window-ledge, taps vigorously on the 

 pane, then flies up and down very rapidly about three or four times. Then 

 it pauses a moment, steps over to the next pane, and repeats the operation. 

 It has never been observed to tap or fly upon the tliird pane. After tap- 

 ping or flapping industriously for half an hour or so, it descends to the 

 ground or garden near by, makes a short repast of a bug or worm, returns 

 again to the window-ledge and goes through with the same process. It 

 begins its operations early in the morning, and continues until the shadows 

 of evening begin to fall. Nothing so far seems to liave seriously inter- 

 rupted its movements. It flies away when the white shade is drawn 

 down, but returns again, walks back and forward across the ledge, and 

 peers in at the narrow, uncovered space below the bottom of the shade. 

 It never taps or flutters agninst the window when the shade is drawn. It 

 simply looks Hbout, flies away, and returns again, until it finds the sliadc 

 raised. It then r<!peats its beatings and fluttering as before. If, however, 

 the outside blinds are closed, it appears quite frantic. It flies at them, and 

 if it can gain a foothold anywhere, it thrusts its beak between the shutters 

 and pecks violently at (be window until tired out, then it retires and waits 

 until they are opsined again. It does not seem to be especially shy 

 or tame. It flies off' at the too near approach of a person, cat, or lawn- 

 mower. It returns again as soon as they remove a short distance away. 

 Thus has it performed for three days, and shows no signs of giving up. 



" Its curious persistency has attracted nuich attention, and called forth 

 various remarks. One laughingly says, it must be an evil spirit in bird 

 form. Others are inclined to regard it as an 'ominous bird.' One man, 

 after watching it for some time, remarked that it saw its shadow in the 

 window and mistook it for a lost mate. This seems probable, for on in- 

 vestigation it was found that the window, being relieved by a dark back- 

 ground, reflected images almost as distinctly as a mirror. It was further 



CiiAHLEs Darwin, F.R.S. 

 --.«.,.St^ Geo. Mivakt, F.R.S. , Sec. L. S. 



Au^Ski) R. Wallace. ^ ' 



A. GuKNTiiKi!, F./'.S., Keejtep-iff^the Depniimmt of 

 Zoolnr/y, Brilish MfC-^eiim. 



Philip LuTm^YgetATisH, M.A., Ph. Dr., F.R.S., Sec- 

 retgiiifw the Zoolnf/icnl Social 1/ iif Lomlon. 



AysRCfD NisWTOX, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., Professor of Zo- 

 olocjii in the University of Cambridge. 

 VOL. IV. 12 



