38 
NATURE NOTES 
as deep as his eyes, moving his head from side to side to enlarge the hole ; and 
then leisurely picking out the ants one by one. When he had gone away I 
inspected the field of his operations. They were confined to a space about the 
size of a dinner plate. Several of the holes were as big round as a pencil, funnel- 
shaped and more than an inch across the top. This is the closest view I have 
ever had of this very shy bird. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
Market Weston, Thetford. 
Bullfinches. — When I wrote for Land and Water some years ago, a very 
good naturalist, the Hon. G. F. Berkeley, told me that these birds only attacked 
buds already infested by a grub laid by some insects, and the buds would in any 
case drop off. I believe Mr. Frank Buckland was on the side of the bullfinches. 
Every bird and wild animal in this vicinity is ruthlessly killed, save the, in my 
opinion, destructive sparrow. He eats all my peas, and destroys whole beds of 
spring flowers, yellow crocus especially, by nipping the stalk to extract the sweet 
nectar. Helen Watney. 
Berry Grove House, West Liss, Hants. 
Breeding of Eagle Owls at the Zoo. — Most visitors to the Gardens 
have observed with interest the fine eagle owls (Bubo ignavus) in the small aviary 
exclusively appropriated to them, just by the camel-house, which has had a long 
succession of occupants. It is somewhat strange that these birds have never 
nested till now, and this makes the hatching-off of a young bird all the more 
welcome as an unexpected New Year’s gift to the Society. It is not easy to 
assign a reason for the fact that this species never bred before in the Gardens. 
The conditions would seem to have been all that could be desired for the purpose ; 
an inner compartment was provided, and here the birds passed the day, perched 
side by side on a cross-bar, looking solemn and wise as owls are wont to do. 
But when visitors approached the w'irework they were apt to ruffle their feathers 
and glare ominously at the intruders on their privacy. In confinement the nest- 
ing habits of these owls, which occur in Britain as occasional stragglers from the 
Continent, are exceedingly simple. A hole is scratched in the earth in a dark 
corner of the aviary, and here, often without any nesting material, the eggs are 
deposited and the brood hatched off. When they leave the egg they are entirely 
covered with white down, which in about three weeks is exchanged for the second 
down, greyish-brown in hue. When the young birds are about five weeks old 
the feathers begin to show, and in another month they are able to fly up to their 
perches, and nearly rival their parents in size. The most celebrated case of the 
breeding of this species in captivity is that recorded in Stevenson’s “Birds of 
Norfolk,” of a single pair that hatched oft a brood regularly for fourteen years in 
succession in the aviary of Mr. Edward Fountaine, at Easton, near Norwich. 
At one time this gentleman had twenty-six of these owls in his aviary, and had 
then given away thirteen others. The colony of owls formerly living at Arundel 
Castle were supposed to belong to this species, but were shown by Mr. Borrer to 
belong to the American species {Bubo virginianus). — Standard. 
Frogs and Toads. — We are told and often read that frogs and toads retire 
during the winter into the mud at the bottom of ponds and lakes ; and that, 
therefore, they are under the water continuously for three or four months in the 
year. Is this so ? Here there are great numbers of these batrachians, owing I 
believe to the many “ pits,” or small ponds, which aftord them suitable breeding 
places. In the.se “pits,” early in the spring, it is a common thing to see a 
struggling cluster of twenty or thirty male toads, and in the midst of them a 
solitary female, which has been killed by the overpowering number of suitors; 
drowned, I fancy, from not being permitted to come to the surface of the water 
to breathe ; or as a village lad told me, “ the little ’uns holds the big ’uns down 
and drownds them.” These creatures are able to remain submerged for a long 
time, and the time no doubt can be much increased during hybernation, wlien 
their vitality is low ; but does it extend to months ? Our labourers often come 
across them when ditching in the winter. They find them in the mud at the 
sides of the ditches, and in such like pl.aces, where they are frequently, but not 
always, under water. I have occasionally found both frogs and toads hybernating 
some distance from any water. Edmund TlIOS. Dauukny. 
Market Weston, 'I hel ford. 
