TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
139 
on the window-sill, and always come back again, but of course my friends did 
not give him many chances to go outside. He made friends with a squirrel in the 
house, but could not tolerate any other bird in the same room. If any one was 
writing at the table he would fly o(f to the paper, hop over it, and begin pecking 
at the pen ; evidently the movement or sound of the pen was not to his taste. He 
died at the age of 14 in the old lady’s lap, still showing his affection for her up to 
the last. 
Dea/. F. M. M. P. 
Where are the Snakes ? — Living in a very wild part of Wolmer Forest, 
where a great number of snakes are generally to be seen each year, I have been 
rather surprised at their non-appearance this season. During a warm spring, such 
as we have had this year, I have often come across one sunning himself on a 
sheltered heathy bank as early as in February. But this year scarcely one was 
observed until last month, and even now, in the middle of June, it is quite 
exceptional to meet with one. Can it be that the severe frost which has killed 
off all the heather and gorse in this district, has also proved fatal to the hibernating 
snake? V. B. 
Roosting Habits of the Wren (p. 38). —It is quite true that the 
common wren (I do not know whether it is the case with all the species of the 
wren tribe) will return with its family to roost in its old nest during the winter 
months. May it not be probable that the basket spoken of had either served as 
the nest of the birds, or that the real nest had been destroyed, and the young ones, 
finding an equally comfortable shelter, adopted that as a substitute for their old 
home? The least disturbance will cause the nest to be forsaken whilst building, 
and a new one built, sometimes again and again, and this perhaps is the cause of 
so many uninhabited nests of the wren being found. In these the birds will often 
shelter themselves during cold winter nights. V. B. 
The Chiff-Chaff. — For the last few weeks I have observed a chiff-chaff 
perched on the top of a weathercock which is placed on the top of a bell turret on 
the top of the house. Not merely now and again does he adopt this lofty position, 
but the whole day long he sits there uttering his shrill “ cheep chap, cheep chap 
chee.” Occasionally he will take short flights round about the house, but never 
long absent from his perch on the turret. Is it possible that his mate has a nest 
somewhere there ? and if so is it not rather an unusual spot for a chiff-chaff, whose 
nest is generally placed on the ground, and in the neighbourhood of trees and 
thick hushes? V. B. 
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