NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
75 
stream.’ How one does wish that ‘ Naturalist,’ who communicates the fact to 
The Statidard to-day, would have gone a step further, and communicated the 
name of the monster. I call him monster, because he has taken the lives of 
these jewels of the brook under false pretences, and for selfish motives. Let 
him examine the stomach of the next kingfisher he cruelly destroys, and he will 
find as many Crustacea, water beetles, and dragonfly remains as he will of trout 
spawn, and more minnows and stickleback fry than either. Why cannot the 
Oxfordshire County Council, through its General Purposes Committee, come to 
the aid of the kingfisher, as it has already come to the aid of the owl ? ‘ The 
sea-blue bird of March” cries to them for succour.” 
Protection of Eggs of Wild Birds. — The Richmond (Surrey) Municipal 
Council have unanimously passed a resolution requesting the Surrey County 
Council to put in force the Act recently passed to protect the eggs of wild birds. 
Should this note meet the eyes of any member of the S.C. C. they are requested to 
support the action of Richmond. 
“ Sport ” in Sussex. — “ The Iping Harriers,” writes a correspondent in a 
local paper, “ were advertised to hunt a deer in the neighbourhood of Midhurst 
the other day, and the usual rabble turned up to see a miserable little fawn, 
which had been boxed in a shed the night before, uncarted on Stedham Common. 
The poor little beast, not knowing where to go, had to be thrashed with a whip 
to stir. Utterly bewildered, it made its way across the river to Woolbeding, 
about a mile distant, with the hounds at its heels, where it ran into the garden of 
Woolbeding Hall, and got entangled in some wire fencing. The gate having 
been taken off its hinges by the ‘ whip,’ the hounds were admitted, and literally 
tore the animal to pieces .” — Weslminster Gazette, March 4. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
The Chafl 5 .nch’s Song (p. 58). — I do not remember hearing it before 
February 25, Just after the severe frost, and then it was not the full song, as 
almost invariably the last run or trill was wanting. 
Keighley, Yorks, .S. B. 
I heard the “chaffinch ” in full song on February 4, at about 9 a.m., in the 
sunshine at the margin of a grove ; the thermometer standing at 33° F. at the 
time, same place and conditions ; the air being calm. I did not hear them again 
till February 25, as a heavy fall of snow took place shortly after. 
Ferns, Ireland. G. E. J. Greene. 
I first heard the chaffinches practising their songs on February 13 and 14, 
in the teeth of a piercing east wind. 
Otindle, Northamptonshire. J. W. 
I was away from home all January, but in February the chaffinch was still 
only calling out with his usual winter cry. On February 20 he commenced 
singing, and we have heard his song every day since. The day, as far as I 
remember, was very cold, with occasional snow showers, and a bitter wind, but 
there were bright sunny intervals when the sun seemed to have a little power. 
Oakley, Brill, Bucks. A. M. Greenwood. 
Chaffinches. — We have received many communications as to the presence 
or absence of chaffinches this year (see p. 56), which space compels us to omit. 
They have been plentiful at Oakley, Brill, Bucks (Mrs. Greenwood) ; “ unusually 
abundant” at Oundle, Northamptonshire, and at Leeds (Miss Wickham); 
“ many more than usual ” at Bath (Mrs. Redder) ; “ more than ever ” at Keighley, 
Yorkshire (S. B.) ; “ an unusual number ” at Weybridge (Miss Knyvett) ; “ a 
good number” at Bungay (Mrs. Scudamore) ; “ a great number” at Liss, Hants 
(Mrs. Watney); “ no scarcity” at East Molesey (Lady Jenkyns) ; but very few 
at York (Mrs. Place). 
