NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
'53 
380. Courage in the Rook. — I once saw a heron get a very mauvais 
quart d'heure in the air, escaping with difficulty and trepidation from the attack 
of a rook. To-day it was no less formidable a foe than the rough-legged buzzard, 
which, rising from a mountain combe, was valiantly pursued. As the hawk circled, 
the rook was invariably the quicker to rise, and it attempted to strike at least 
a score of times, each “ stoop ” accompanied by a cry. The fight was carried 
to a great height in the air, from which the buzzard sailed away to the pines, 
and the rook descended to its trees in the valley. 
In the Cevennes. Thomas Pole. 
June. 
381. Can Swifts take Wing from the Ground ? — I have not seen 
the discussion in the Daily Journal mentioned by your correspondent last 
month, but I can answer the question very satisfactorily from my own experience. 
When a boy I read in some book the oft-repeated statement that these birds 
cannot rise from level ground. It happened to be the breeding-season, and I 
at once wended my way, very much interested in the question, to an old cottage 
I knew of where many pairs nested in holes in the thatch. I put my hand up 
one of the holes, captured a swift on its nest, carried it to the hard road close 
by, and carefully placed it on the ground. The bird at once rose and flew away 
without any difficulty whatever. I proceeded to try the same experiment on 
about a dozen other birds, and every one of them flew away, some, however, 
not quite so easily as others. I conclude, therefore, that the idea that the swift 
cannot rise from level ground must be a popular error, probably started by some 
“arm-chair'’ naturalists, who argued to their own satisfaction that because the 
bird’s wings were very long and its legs extremely short, it would be unable to 
do so. These gentlemen argued much in the same way about the young cuckoo 
turning its companions out of the nest in which it had been hatched. They said 
it was obviously impossible for a newly-hatched bird to possses sufficient strength 
to perform such a feat, and when some of us told them that facts were against 
them, they almost called us liars, indeed, practically did so. In the case given 
by your correspondent there was a special reason, which he himself suggests, why 
the swift failed to take wing. No wonder it could not do so after receiving a 
severe mauling from such a powerful bird as a starling. 
Chichester. W. S. Cleather. 
382. — For the last half century this question has been more or less brought to 
my notice. I have no reason to suppose that in the vigour of health they are 
unable to rise from a level surface ; and under ordinary conditions swifts do not 
settle on the ground. The letter quoted in No. 364 supplies the reason why on 
rare occasions swifts have been found unable to rise from the ground. The one 
spoken of was weak from the “cold weather and want of food,” and had also 
been “hurt by the starling which had been pecking it.” When thrown into 
the air it had sufficient strength left to fly away. It is far greater exertion to a 
bird to take flight from the ground, than to fly when thrown into the air. I have 
on several occasions picked up exhausted swallows and martins, which have taken 
flight when loosed. Swifts suffer severely in a cold spring and are sometimes 
decimated by a cold snap. 
July , 1906. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
383. Woodpeckers’ Love-Call. I look upon the tapping, or “drum- 
ming,” as Mr. Westell has it, of the greater and lesser spotted woodpeckers as 
a love-call : and not as a means of procuring food as he supposes. It is to be 
heard in the spring, when mating goes on, and very rarely if ever at other times. 
It remains to be proved whether a tapping noise, such as theirs, on the trunk of a 
tree would cause insects to rush out of the crevices of the bark into open danger, 
or to cling closer than ever to their lurking places. I am ready to give up these 
opinions on proof to the contrary being given. A naturalist worth his salt must 
be prepared to meet many a question with an open mind. I have learned and 
unlearned a lot since I became a writer in Nature Notes. 
July, 1906. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
384. An East Anglian Ternery. —Mr. Edmund Thos. Daubeny’s note 
on the resting-place of the terns was particularly welcome, and I was glad to find 
