38 
NATURE NOTES. 
The Royal Buckhounds. — We are glad lo see that public opinion is 
being aroused on this subject, and that steps are likely to be taken to suppress 
this “sport.” The Daily Chronicle and the Star have devoted well-informed 
articles to the matter, and the Sportsman “hears on what should be good 
authority that the hunting of deer will be discontinued, and fox-hunting substituted.” 
Tame Birds. — I should strongly advise Mrs. Brightwen not to release her 
blackcap and nightingale, as she, in the course of her most interesting article 
(pp. 1-4), says she hopes to be able to do next spring. There may be little 
doubt about their ability to forage for themselves during the summer whilst in 
this country, but I think it highly improbable that birds, pampered for a con- 
siderable period of their lives — to say nothing of being artificially reared almost 
from the egg — would be able to successfully accomplish the long and arduous 
journey to warmer climes, on the approach of our winter. Under the best of 
conditions a large proportion of the migrating birds undoubtedly perish ; and the 
old law of nature, that the fittest shall survive, thus drastically applied, would I 
feel sure inevitably end in the death of Mrs. Brightwen’s pets. It must also be 
remembered that the life of a wild creature is not all honey, and in my humble 
opinion, a bird or animal taken in hand by Mrs. Brightwen is considerably better 
off than the majority of its wild compeers, and I believe some of them know this, 
or if not would soon become aware of it if thrown on their own resources. In 
the same way a young savage taken from his native wilds, and reared among 
civilized folk, although trammelled by many of the usages of civilization, is yet on 
the average, if rightly treated, decidedly proud of his altered condition, regarding 
a lapse into his former unfettered state, with all its hardships or even with absolute 
freedom, as an event much to be dreaded ; and who shall say that a thoroughly 
well treated bird does not think likewise ? 
W. Naunton Rushen. 
Encouragement. — “Lady Aberdeen, wife of the Governor- General of 
Canada, writes to Mr. George T. Angell, editor of Our Dumb Animals, in regard 
to the wearing of egrets’ plumes obtained by destruction of the birds and their 
young at breeding time, in which she writes : ‘ I frankly confess that I have 
allowed these plumes to be allowed on my own bonnets without realizing how 
they were obtained. And I hope the Toronto Humane Society will be able to 
persuade the women of Canada, as they have persuaded me, to put their faces 
against this custom. I have always felt that the wearing of little stuffed singing 
birds on hats not only destroys all of our songsters but is inartistic, and I am 
glad to think the fashion is passing away, giving place to artificial flowers and 
grasses.’ ” 
[The correspondent who sends this paragraph gives no reference to the paper 
from which it is taken, sends no name or addre.ss, and sticks it on the back of a 
post card, contrary to postal regulations. This is a good example of how mt 
to do it. —Ed. N.N.~\ 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Great Northern Diver. — Mr. O. V. Aplin, in his review of Mrs. Black- 
burne’s Birds Jrom Moidart, calls the statement that the great northern diver 
breeds in Scotland an inaccuracy. Five or six years .ago a friend of mine showed 
me the eggs of this bird which he had taken in the north of Scotland. 
Thetford. Edmund Tiios. Daubeny. 
I know for certain that a pair of these divers bred last year, 1896, and 
have done for several years past, not very far from Roshven, where Mrs. 
Blackburn lives. But for obvious reasons it would not be wise to indicate the 
position more precisely. Ernest U. Savage. 
Douglas, Isle of Man. 
Starling and Gull. — My friend and neighbour, the Rev. C. B. Young, 
Rector of Newton Ferrers, tells me that one of their ringers, who is a fisherman, 
told him that a few weeks ago, while he and his father were out to sea after 
pilchards, they saw a starling on a gull’s back. When the gull came near 
