58 
NATURE NOTES 
it puzzles me to know how long they live, or where they all come from. They 
have instinct to find their way about as far as 300 feet from the water during the 
summer evenings, when in pursuit of food, but always return, and keep near the 
pond as the evenings draw in. Toads have not bred in my garden, and do not 
hybernate in water, but under rock work where sheltered from cold. A splendid 
specimen was taking his walk abroad on a warm day in December last, and 
returned to his hiding place as knowingly as if used to it. 
Anerley. A. J. PoWELL. 
[ We have received several other letters to this effect. Ed. N. A^.] 
The Mild Winter. —Perhaps rose growers who are Selbornians may be 
interested to hear that I cut roses, “La France,” on December 1, and “ Jules 
Finger” on the 6th, 1898, and, to my surprise, a “Grace Darling” on January 
21, 1899. Neville Green. 
Rosslyn House, North Road, Highgate, N. 
Wood Pigeon. — A neighbouring observer sends me the following memo: — 
“December il, 1898, saw an old wood pigeon feeding a young one on the 
beech tree on the lawn. A queer thing !” Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
Rare Birds Shot near London. — In Nature Notes for January, 1899, 
I observe that you quote a paragraph from the Daily Mail under the above 
heading. It may be interesting to the ornithological readers of the magazine to 
know that the oyster-catcher is abundantly met with on the rocky shores of 
Britain, and in certain districts is among the commonest of the shore birds. 
Instead of only one species of this bird, which the paragraph you quote implies 
to exist universally, there are no fewer than ten distinct species, and one an 
aberrant form, inhabiting various portions of the globe. The name of this bird 
is entirely mi.sleading as regards its feeding upon the oyster, for it is improbable 
that it ever attempts to eat this bivalve. It does, however, eat limpets, all kinds 
of small molluscs and crustaceans, mussels, small fish, and animal debris washed 
up by the tide. From what they will devour with evident relish in confinement, 
it is highly probable that any carrion cast up by the sea would be readily 
eaten by these birds. Regarding the scoter mentioned in the same paragraph, 
which is evidently the common scoter, there is nothing remarkable in its 
occurrence so near the coast, as in very stormy weather it frequently takes 
shelter on inland waters, and it is one of the most abundant species of duck to 
be met with on the eastern co.ist in winter, l.arge areas of the North Sea are 
at times blackened by their numbers. F. W. F'rohawk. 
Zoological Society, Brighton. 
Mimicry by a Starling. — The firllowing instance of natural mimicry in 
bird song may be of interest to readers of Nature Notes. On Decenrber 26, 
1898, while staying near Liverpool, I was walking round some ponds, originally 
red sand-stone quarries, which are stocked with a great many different kinds of 
duck, and I heard a starling, which was singing lustily in spite of a tremendous 
westerly gale, exactly reproduce the whistle o( the Chilian pintail iluck. This, 
as you know, is totally different to the ordinary whistle of a starling, being a 
short, rather husky whistle, with a break in the middle, which gives it the 
sound of a double note. The reproduction was perfect, and the starling repeated 
it several times as though he were practising and trying to better it. 
Maruare'i L. Anderson. 
Bearded Tit in Norfolk. — A pleasant piece of natural history go.ssip 
comes to us from Norfolk. A certi.in landowner, who ha|ipens to be very 
wealthy and at the same time an enthusia'tie ornithologist, last year had no 
fewer than seven nests of that rare and ex(|uisite little bird, the bearded tit, on 
his estate. .So delighted was he that he purchased six hundred acres of adjoining 
land that appeared likely to be haunted by the same si>ecies. Those who love 
the Broads owe a debt of gratitude to anyone who is striving to preserve the 
most graceful inhabitant of the reeds, threatened, as it long has been, with 
extinction by drainage and collectors. 
Bullfinches. — In reply to Mrs. Helen Watney, on ]>.ige 38, I beg most 
res|)ectfully to inform her and others, who believe that bullfinches only attack 
such fruit buds as contain either grubs or insects or their eggs, that it is a very 
