74 
NATURE NOTES 
which at this part overhangs the water, and sprang on the back of a starling 
and seized it by the nape of the neck. There was a shrill scream from the 
starling, and before I could fully realise what was happening all was over and 
the rat had dragged the starling into his hole. The other starlings flew up into 
the trees and made a great fuss, but it was too late for them to render their 
unfortunate comrade any assistance. It is in summer time, however, that we 
see most bird life at the pool, and on a summer’s evening it is a pretty sight to 
watch the swallows hawking over the pool and dashing between the trees in a 
most bewildeiing manner. Later on in the evening many kinds of birds come 
to the pool from the surrounding orchards, to drink and bathe before retiring for 
the night. At this time of the year (the summer) the pool is very beautiful, being 
covered on one side by blue and white hydrangeas. The amount of bird life to 
be seen at this kind of pool by a careful and quiet observer is vastly larger than 
would be credited by the ordinary casual observer who takes no trouble to 
conceal himself or keep quiet. 
Penzance, February 14, 1901. Arthur \V. Hext Harvey. 
White Blackbird. — On Sunday evening (last night) at 5.45, just near the 
bottom of the West Hill I saw a white blackbird. Some blackbiids were making 
a great commotion in a bush at the side of the road, and then I saw a white bird 
with two or three blackbirds fly out of the bush. At first T thought it must be 
some bird that had escaped from a cage being mobbed by the others, but 
presently I saw all three birds settle in a holly bush. I crept quietly up to it and 
stood for a minute or more with the white bird not a yard from me — so that I 
was able to see and hear it utteiing the distinct blackbird scream. Also the 
familiar cocking up of the tail every time it moved, together with the flight when 
I startled it, lelt no room for doubt as to the species. The bird was not entirely 
while, as I noticed the tips of the wings were dark, also one or two of the tail 
feathers. 
40, Southwood Lane, Highgate. Charles T. Parsons. 
February 2'^, 1901. 
An Intelligent Starling. — Early one spring morning, not long ago, I was 
watching the flow'ers opening, the birds singing and other signs of spring from 
my bedroom window, when down flew a starling from the roof over my head, and 
alighted on the wall at the end of the garden. It immediately fluffed out all its 
back, head and breast feathers, and shook itself till quite a cloud of dust came 
out from them. I watched it fly back and repeat this curious performance so 
many times that at length I got quite tired of observing its manoeuvres, for at the 
end of half an hour it was as busy as ever. The reason of its energy was obvious ; 
it had seized on a nesting hole under the eaves, but had found it so full of dust 
of crumbled mortar and other building materials, that with a view of cleansing 
it, it must have dusted it out with its erected feathers by rubbing itself round 
and round its new home ; then, adjusting them smooth, flown out and got rid of 
the dust in the way I have described. Do these birds usually do their “ spring 
cleaning” in this way, can any reader say? 
Llaw Bush. Bretlell Lane, Stourbridge. F. Gibbons. 
March 8, 1901. 
Green Woodpecker. — I do not know whether you will consider the 
following conriibution worth inserting in Nature Notes. In common, I 
suppose, with most Selbornians, I make a regular practice of feeding wild birds 
every snowy or frosty morning during the winter. The attendance at this meal 
became large during last month’s (February) long-continued frost, and one 
morning, to my surprise and joy, on walking a little way off, and looking back, 
I saw a green woodpecker descend with his vacillating flight to the midst of the 
crowd of commoner birds, and have a few pecks at the food, which consisted of 
scraps of bacon fat and a few crumbs soaked in milk. The green woodpecker 
is such a shy bird that the fact may be worth recording. 
Sotlerley, IVangford, Suffolk. M. E. B. 
Chough. — I am indebted to Mr. Collier and Mr. Westell for their notes 
hereon in last February’s issue. I am greatly pleased to learn that the chough is 
so abundant in Ireland, and I hope it will continue to increase. At one time it was 
a common bird all along the coast of Cornwall, but now it only survives in one or 
