NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
17 
happened eventually, but I took him away thinking that he was hardly a comfort- 
able bedfellow, and he returned, but not to the eggs, and was ejected from the 
shrubbery by our young Scotch terrier. 
M. S. Young. 
Bat in December. — On December 8, 1900, while returning from a walk, 
about 4.15 p.m., I saw a bat flying about in the vicinity of Woodstone Church, 
near Peterborough. It was evidently hawking for insects, and judging of the 
sudden darts in various directions, it was fairly well rewarded for its break into 
its winter slumber. The weather was unusually mild. Although it may not be 
unusual to see bats flying in the mid-autumn evenings, I do not myself remember 
seeing one hawking so late as December 8 before. 
Broadway, Pete 7 -borough- W. H. Bernard Saunders. 
Nightjar. — As a supplementary note to Mr. Denne’s on the nightjar, the 
following incident may be of interest. Two or three summers ago I was walking 
over the cliffs on the Gower coast, when all at once I came plump on a nightjar 
sitting fast asleep on a rock at the bottom of one of the many basin-like hollows 
that are such a feature of the cliff lawns of our coast. I was almost near enough 
to touch the bird with my stick, but he or she awoke up just in time and fluttered 
off in deadly silence in a manner indicating intoxication ; probably the glaring 
sun was too much for his eyes ! The curious point of my story is this : twelve 
months after my first visit I was over the ground again, passing the same spot, 
and there, fast asleep, was a nightjar sitting on the very same stone — in all 
probability my friend of last year. 
Mowbrick, Chepstow. F. II. Worsley-Benison. 
The Starling as a Mimic. — It is now some years since I became aware 
of the fact that the starling as a mimic of bird notes and cries stands second to 
none, not even to the parrot himself. I have heard starlings on my chimney and 
on trees imitate to perfection yellow hammer, missel thrush, so 7 ne notes of the 
blackbird, a few notes of the song thrush, swift, tomtit, sparrow, lapwing, moor- 
hen, jackdaw, owl’s screech, jay, common fowl, sea-gull, woodpecker, and 
others which I cannot call to mind at the moment ; also the postman’s whistle, 
the creaking of a gate, the bark of a dog, the cry of a cat the croak of a frog, &c. 
I have also noticed that the starling appears to imitate sometimes in its flight the 
flight of the swallow', and at a distance this is often very deceptive. The fact 
that the starling is able to imitate the “ te-wit” of the owl would seem to suggest 
that he (the starling) “sleeps with one eye open,” or at any rate with one ear 
open, unless it is that he is more wakeful at night than we imagine him to be. 
C. E. C. 
Robins. — There is a curious belief in this neighbourhood that in the 
autumn the young robins fight with and kill the old birds. Can any one tell 
me whether this is a common idea or only a local one? We certainly do see 
them fighting, but we seldom find a dead robin. 
North Moreto 7 i Vicarage, Walluigford. M. S. Young. 
Swallows. — I grieve to say that in this neighbourhood the swallows seem 
to be diminishing in numbers. This year we have had only one pair in a chimney ; 
last year only one pair in the village, and in the next village, a mile off, it has been 
the same. Before that we had as many as five pairs in our large old barn, and 
others in the village besides. 
Last year there w’ere more martins than ever before, a great many ; this year 
not so many, but in both years we have had a great many more swifts building 
under the low thatched eaves of the cottages. When the broods were preparing 
to leave the village I could not count more than twelve or thirteen birds. 
North Moreto/i Vicarage, Walli 77 gford. M. S. Young. 
House Martins. — Your correspondent. Miss Hargrave, will I fear, have 
great difficulty in preserving the young house martins mentioned on page 230 of 
your last issue, but perhaps the mixture advised by Mr. Butler, composed of ants’ 
cocoons and preserved yolk of egg ground up in a mortar with maizena wafers, 
the whole being mixed together and slightly damped, and as many flies as 
possible, may have the desired effect. Of course it would be impossible to feed 
