i8 NATURE NOTES 
the middle of the village, which is away from a stream and 150 feet above the 
level of the sea. 
Market IVeston, Thetford, Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
December, 1899. 
Stuffed Birds. — It is well known that stuffed birds deteriorate if exposed 
to a strong light. I have lately come across an extreme instance of this. In a 
case that had been hung up for many years in a verandah upon which the direct 
rays of the sun fell, were a number of stuffed birds that looked like ghosts. They 
were of a weird, ashy colour more or less, with their beautiful markings almost 
entirely gone. The warm brown tint of a wren had turned to grey, and the 
yellowish green of a woodpecker too ; even the greater portion of the red on the 
back of its head had vanished, while the pencillings of a wryneck had followed 
suit. In short, if this case were to fall into the hands of a sharper, he might 
palm off some of its contents on the uninitiated as curious varieties. 
December, 1899. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
Kestrels and Sparrows. — In a church which I can see from my dining- 
room windows a pair of kestrels nest every year. Last spring, in consequence of 
their unwelcome attentions to young pheasants, a man was sent to take their 
eggs, when a sparrow’s nest full of young birds was found within a few inches of 
where the kestrel was sitting. Both hawks and sparrows entered their nests by 
the same hole in the wall of the church. 
December, 1899. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
The Bullfinch. — Noticing another allusion to the bullfinch and its habits 
and capabilities for mischief, I thought perhaps you would allow me to speak of 
one which has been with me about twenty-one months. It was given to me 
when just able to feed itself, having been reared from the nest. It was thought 
to be a cock bird, which belief it fostered by singing like one when older. It 
did not moult the first year, but is now in full female plumage. We were soon 
friendly, she taking hemp seed from my hand. But I wish to make mention of 
her great appetite and power for mischief. She is a great feeder, eating about four 
times the quantity of seed that a canary does. Moreover, she is a great devourer 
of groundsel blossoms and foliage, an eagerness for which induces me to search a 
large garden for a supply, so much so that last winter I denuded the garden and 
orchard of the plant, and it seemed as if I should have to leave one plant, or sow 
seed to avoid going out to seek for the weed. I reckoned that by keeping her a 
prisoner I did double service by preventing her devouring the fruit buds, and 
also, so to speak, compelling myself to w'eed the garden of a troublesome plant. 
I do not infer from her behaviour that she would prefer groundsel to pear-tree 
blossoms, for on giving her some of the latter she quickly ripped them up. 
Boreham Home, Elstree. II. J. B. 
December g, 1899. 
Instinct in Birds. — Another example of the wonderful instinct of birds, 
and their keen powers of sight, came to my notice to-day. Two American blue 
birds, which we have had at least ten years, were in their cages in the house ; when, 
suddenly uttering their alarm note, and fluttering about, they remained transfixed 
to their perches. On going to the window we saw a kestrel flying overhead. 
Some months ago the same thing happened. One blue bird who was enjoying 
his “outing” suddenly dashed down through the harmonium bellows ! We saw 
that a kestrel had stooped just outside the window, carrying off a sparrow. A 
gentleman living here has noticed the same alarm in a canary when a hawk 
passed the house. This is more remarkable, as a canary is a thoroughly 
domesticated bird. Jackdaws or other birds passing the windows cause no 
distress. 
Glenthorne, Eastbourne. E. G. Woodd. 
Humming-bird. Hawk-Moth (Macroglossa stellatarnm). — A. M. G.’s 
interesting account of this moth in the October number of Nature Notes 
induces me to write of a curious circumstance which occurred to-day (November 
10). A fine active specimen was seen flying about in the sunshine of a south 
bed-room the first thing in the morning, and before the windows had been 
