176 
NATURE NOTES 
hood for a day or two longer, after which they entirely disappeared. The curious 
part of the matter is that no nest could be found, and if the young bird was reared 
outside the garden it is difficult to understand how it got in, being bounded as it 
is on one side by a high wall, and on the other by a sunk fence. And again, 
why was there only one young bird ? 
W. 
Redstarts. — In the summers of 1897 and 1898, redftarts were fairh’ plenti- 
ful in this garden (West Yorkshire), but in 1899 and the present summer not 
a single bird has been seen. Is the redstart decreasing in numbers, or is there 
any way of accounting for their partial appearance ? 
We are sorry to read that “ In France redstarts and flycatchers are caught in 
great numbers, being highly prized for the delicacy and flavour of their flesh.” 
The flycatcher, however, has been unusually numerous here this year. 
W. 
House Martins and Swallows.— Mr. James Hiam has not observed 
that there is a scarcity of house martins this year, also in a few previous years, 
and this scarcitv may be confined to the district in the west of England under my 
observation. But the absence of the former abundance of this particularly homely 
and tame bird in these south-western parts is undoubted. I should be glad if 
some of your correspondents could account for this falling off of our intimate 
friends in their visits for the last year or two. If their absence were limited to 
this particular spot it would not be worthy of notice, but it is most marked over a 
large district. It is to be hoped that in course of time they will reappear, but I 
have remarked the change the last three years. It cannot be because I destroy 
their nests in the winter, for that would' be applicable only to this place. Here, 
swallows are far more abundant than usual this year. Do swallows and martins 
feed on the same flies? And if so, is there a rivalry between them in their flights 
for food ? They never appear to contend for food, and the supply of the particular 
small fly that they feed on is generally ample. That house martins in this district 
should have been for many years more numerous than swallows, but for the last 
few years should be scarce, and apparently superseded by swallows, is an inter- 
esting fact which I should be glad to see explained. The numbers of wild birds 
vary. A few years ago thrushes were very scarce here, the result of a very hard 
winter, and blackbirds, the hardier bird of the two, flourished exceedingly. Now 
the thrushes are in their usual numbers. Possibly a very large qu.intity of house 
martins were wrecked on passage in a stormy year, and they have not yet 
recovered their proper number. For myself, I prefer martins to swallows. There 
are a few birds which are increasing in numbers, due probably to the action of 
gamekeepers ; amongst these I should put the common woodpigeon and the 
starling, the rook also perhaps. The sparrow may be increasing too, and he is 
a nuisance, because he drives away all other small birds, especially the songsters. 
IVoodtown, S. Devon, -\V. F. C. 
August 1^, 1900. 
More Strifta than Martins. — There have been a remarkable number of 
swifts in the neighbourhood of Thornton Heath and Croydon this year. The 
martins, and the swallows e.specially, have been fewer than ever, but the unusual 
number of swifts has attracted the attention of man3\ Has this unusual propor- 
tion been noticed elsewhere ? 
Edward A. Martin. 
House Martin (p. 138). — In common with your correspondent Mr. 
W. F. Collier, I have remarked for several ye.ars past the increasing scarcity 
each season of our little snowy-breasted friend, the house martin. The other 
spring migrants too have been anything but numerous this year in the part of 
Berkshire from which I write, and I have missed the notes of several species 
familiar enough at one time — the wryneck, grasshopper warbler, landrail, &c. 
The chiff-chaff and willow-wren also have been decidedly scarce in the woods and 
coppices. Even that “messenger of spring,” the cuckoo, sang but little, and the 
nightingale appeared in very limited numbers. In the years 1893 and 1896 both 
