ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 



Ill 



Do Insect- eating Birds cast Pellets?— i was watching in my 



small aviary a Robin, which I had kept for some time, feeding it on seeds, flies, 

 and mealworms — the latter it was very fond of, and would take them out of my 

 hand. But on offering it one the other day I was surprised to see it took no notice, 

 but seemed ill, being puffed out, and twitching its head from side to side, and 

 closing its eyes. On approaching it more closely I saw it give a sudden jerk, and 

 with its bill wide open it threw out a larger pellet than I should have thought 

 possible from so small a bird. On examining the pellet I found the heads and skins 

 of the mealworm, and the wing-cases and legs of other small insects. The ques- 

 tion naturally arose — do insect-eating birds cast pellets? — W. Barber, Lincoln, 

 September 25th, 1884. 



Great Titmouse attacking Stuffed Birds— A specimen of the 



Great Tit {Parus major)^ popularly known as 'Joe Bent,' in my possession, was 

 yesterday guilty of a series of assaults on several stuffed birds which had been 

 temporarily placed on a shelf in the room in which he was kept. Being aware of 

 the fierce nature of this species, my specimen had not been admitted into the aviary, 

 but was kept in a small cage by himself About midday yesterday ' Joe Bent ' 

 escaped from his cage, apparently by forcing apart two rather loose wires, and was 

 discovered sitting on the curtain pole over the window. After making several 

 ineffectual attempts to secure the rascal my wife locked him into the room, believing, 

 in her innocence, that such a small bird was incapable of doing any mischief! On 

 returning to the room after an hour's absence, eight of the stuffed birds were found 

 lying on the ground at the foot of the shelf on which they had been placed, and on 

 examining them it was discovered that their eyes had been pecked out, their heads 

 and breasts opened and a certain amount of 'stuffing' extracted. One Goldfinch 

 was completely scalped, not a single feather being left on his head ; even such a 

 large bird as a Snipe had been attacked, one specimen having lost both eyes and 

 had its throat opened. Two Cole Tits had their heads opened, and one of them, 

 in addition to losing its eyes, was disembowelled. The only birds which escaped 

 injury were the Blue Tits and the Bullfinches. On search being made for the 

 mischievous little bird it was discovered that he had re-entered his cage and was 

 busily engaged in cracking hemp seeds as if nothing had happened. As 'Joe' 

 had been daily supplied with animal food his conduct under the circumstances was 

 inexcusable. — H. (loss, Berry lands, Surbiton Hill, Surrey. 6th Nov., 1884. 



Destruction of Bird-life at the Farne Islands.— The following 



remarks are suggested by Mr. Slater's paper on the Farne Islands in the ISfatiiralist 

 for November. He has, unhappily, only too much reason to denounce the brutal 

 destruction of the seabirds by the stupid vagabonds of the Tyne, who come in 

 shiploads and fire all day their broadsides at the islands. But perhaps he is not 

 aware that this state of things is made possible by the action of a certain Associa- 

 tion which has been formed nominally for the preservation of the birds, and pro- 

 fesses to accomplish this purpose by taking every year many t"housands of the first 

 and even second sittings of the eggs and selling them up and down the country for 

 eating, in order to defray rent and other expenses. The result is, as I was informed 

 on authority which I could not question, that the birds which are hatched from the 

 last sitting come off their nests so late that they are hardly able to escape by flight 

 when the close season is at an end, and they fall an easy prey to the steamboat 

 'sportsmen,' who do not land, but strew acres of the water with dead and dying 

 birds which they are not at the trouble to recover. When I was there at the end 

 of August there were young Gulls half fledged, and Puffins hardly able to fly. 

 Besides this, as I was told, the Association allows its members and their friends to 

 spend hours upon the islands both when the birds are sitting and also when they 

 are feeding their young, seasons when of course they should be left as undisturbed 

 as possible. To keep up this farce of protection, the Association attempts to charge 

 a fee of sixpence a head upon all persons who land on the islands. Bare respect 

 for my feathered friends forbade my adding my quota to the funds of such an 

 Association, and I need hardly add that their secretary did not make a second 

 application. — H. E. Fox, Durham, November 4th, 1884. 



Dec, 1884. 



