214 



CHAPTER OF VARIETIES. 



Winter birds. — In the last number of the " Field Naturalist/' I 

 mentioned having seen sparrows carrying off feathers during frost, and 

 now beg to state a still more curious instance of unseasonable nestling, 

 which has just come to my knowledge. 



A gentleman residing in this city, so early as a fortnight after Christ- 

 mas, found at East Cliffe, in East Lothian, the nest of a hedge chanter 

 {Accentor modularis, Cuvier) with one egg in it, which he blew and 

 ascertained to be fresh. My authority is most respectable, and, were I 

 at liberty to give his name, would I am sure not be doubted. 



During a sudden fall of snow about ten days ago, I observed that 

 all the house sparrows in the neighbourhood retired for shelter to the 

 crevices of an old brick building ; and it was very amusing to see them 

 peeping out every little while to ascertain if the storm was over. As it 

 is in the direction of this building that I have generally observed them to 

 fly with feathers and other materials, it seems probable that the sugges- 

 tion of the Editor, as to their constructing roosting nests, is correct. 



T. M. G. 



Edinburgh, February 21, 1834. 



Mode of catching small birds. — As the spring is now coming 

 on, and a great deal of interest has been excited with regard to our 

 summer warblers since the publication of Mr. Sweet, I wish to make 

 known to you a mode of catching them, which I have partially tried 

 myself with success. I procured a slender wand of about 18 inches in 

 length, and hung from it at different distances a number of nooses formed 

 of single horsehairs. I bored a hole in a tree, where I thought it likely 

 for birds to fly past, and inserted the wand into it, so as to present the 

 appearance of a natural branch, with the nooses hanging some distance 

 below. It was merely an experiment, for I could catch nothing but the 

 common brown wrens by the method recommended by Mr. Sweet, and 

 I was fortunate enough to capture first the lesser whitethroat, which is 

 a bird not very often seen from its habits of concealment ; it took a fly 

 from the hand the first day, and it learnt to eat bread and milk imme- 

 diately ; by throwing some flies into it I kept it in perfect health for 

 some time, until it eventually escaped, I afterwards set nooses in other 

 places, and caught a good many other commoner birds, especially on some 

 rails covered with thorns which crossed a brook, and were much fre- 

 quented by birds for the purposes of bathing. I caught even so large 

 birds as blackbirds and thrushes with single hairs, but they got entangled 

 in more than one noose, so that I cannot sav whether one hair alone 



