174 



RETROSPECTIVE REMARKS. 



in September ; but being at this season mute, they are but rarely 

 noticed. 



The adult cuckoos leave us about the last week in July or the first 

 in August ; the young of the year remain until about the middle of 

 September, when they form into small flocks of six or seven, and migrate 

 in society. 



Your correspondents have favoured N. N. with two methods of 

 establishing a rookery; by fixing some old nests on the trees on which 

 they are wanted to build, and by placing rooks' eggs in the nest of the 

 first magpie that builds in the desired locality, — which latter method 

 appears to have been successful in three instances. I think I can sug- 

 gest a third plan, though I am not aware that it has ever yet been tried. 

 Suppose a nest of young rooks were to be brought up tame (and, like 

 the rest of the Corvidce, they are susceptible of great attachment to 

 their owner) ; would they not select for nidification, on the ensuing 

 spring, any trees of convenient size which grew nearest to the place 

 where they were reared ? They do not, however, invariably select high 

 trees, and perhaps, under such circumstances, they might not. Some 

 time since I observed a rookery in Warwickshire, some of the nests of 

 which were^not above ten feet from the ground. 



It would appear from E. P/s communication (page 109), that the 

 bearded tit ( Calamophilus biarmicus, Leach) is a migratory species in 

 Cornwall. It is observed in most places to forsake its breeding place 

 in the autumn, but does not leave the country, being found throughout 

 the winter dispersed in small parties along the coasts of Suffolk, Essex, 

 and Sussex, wherever a sufficient growth of reeds affords it a suitable 

 locality. Many are brought to the London markets, during the winter, 

 from the Essex marshes. 



What species does E. P. intend by the name "bluebird?" The 

 Parus coeruleus? Surely not the blue-grey or solitary rock-thrush 

 (Petrocincla cyanea, Vigors)? 



Allow me, in conclusion, to congratulate your readers, and the lovers 

 of natural history in general, upon the many accessions made to the 

 number of your correspondents, from all parts of the country. The 

 number of field observers is evidently fast upon the increase, and will 

 still continue to increase ; and the more natural history is studied, the 

 more and more popular it will become, — the prophecies of certain saga- 

 cious persons, who call it the mere rage of the day, and say that it will 

 soon blow over, notwithstanding. 



Tooting, Surrey, Feb. Uth, 1834. 



