A Visit to a Bird Sanctuary 
able to eat well of all the food supplies; it already exercises 
choice, and its tastes are as indicated above. 
T have had the parents and their baby pliotoi^raphed, and 
I hope the photos can be used to illustrate this article. 
0 
A Visit to a Bird Sanctuary. 
By M. R. Tomunson. 
An account of a short visit to a Scottish bird-sanctuary 
may be of some interest to members of the Foreign Bird Club. 
The sanctuary in question is a natural one, that is to say, it owes 
nothing to protection, or restrictions being put upon visitors. 
Indeed it is one of the most famous beauty spots in Britain, and 
the number of tourists passing through from early spring to 
late autumn is very great. But they are passing through, and 
few diverge from the beaten track. The district is the 
Trossachs, where are to be found woodlands with dense under- 
growth in places, bare moorland and heather-clad hillsides, and 
reedy loch margins. It is not to be wondered at then that, 
with these natural advantages, and a scanty resident population, 
the district should be rich in bird life. 
During a brief stay in the closing days of May nearly 
sixty species were listed as actually seen, and this is by no means 
exhaustive of the kinds of birds to be found in the neighbour- 
hood . With such a variety our account can be little more than 
a catalogue. Of the crow tribe the record includes the 
Jackdaw and the Hoodie-crow — that arrant poacher of the 
moors — and one deserted nest of the latter species was pointed 
out in a tree in a wild gorge, from which one of the parents had 
been shot by a keeper. Further evidence of the keeper's 
activities was afforded by the melancholy remains of a fine raven, 
gibbeted with other companions in crime on a wire fence ! 
The common Rook does not apparently breed in the district, but 
later on in the season these efficient birds seem to get word of 
the bountiful repast of caterpillars infesting the oak woods, and 
appear in large numbers. The wary Jay is also a resident, and 
is sometimes to be seen, but oftener only heard at other seasons 
of the year. During the breeding season, however, this bird, 
