78 
NATURE NOTES. 
colour as the bird grows older, and that the variable nature of the colour of barn 
owls is due partly to the age of the bird. After I have had more experience in 
breeding and observing them I shall be better able to judge if this is the case. 
The care which the parent birds extend to their young is remarkable, and lasts 
throughout the whole year, and it is clear from the calling that goes on between 
parents and young since the separation that they have by no means forgotten each 
other. I thought it advisable to remove the young birds at this season, as nest- 
ing operations would be in progress, and I was anxious to avoid overcrowding in 
the tree trunk when fresh owlets were hatched. There are the usual two eggs 
already laid and sitting is in progress, so that I expect before this month is out I 
shall have another pair. If they breed every year I shall have difficulty in know- 
ing what to do with my birds, as I fear it would scarcely do to let them fly, 
though I shall, I think, tiy the experiment. I am glad to say that the chief 
land owner in the neighbourhood, Mr. Combe, has given strict orders to his 
keepers not to destroy owls. If only others would follow his example we should 
not only have the delight of watching these beautiful birds, but should be less 
annoyed by rats than we are at the present time. 
Farnhatn. Robert Morley. 
What would he do with it ?— It was only to-day that I learnf that the 
w'ater rat does net eat either fish, flesh or fowl. But two or three years back, 
when standing on the bank of a pond in Surrey, I perceived a fine full-grown 
rat swim across the surface, with a small roach in his mouth. I naturally thought 
that the water rat intended devouring his prey, but perhaps he was only going 
to make a present of it to some carnivorous acquaintance ! 
Shere, .Surrey. Marian Fisher. 
“A Trio of Vocalists” (p. i). — Many kind letters have reached me 
showing the interest taken in my “ trio of vocalists,” and from the advice given 
I have resolved not to attempt to let the blackcap and nightingale at liberty. It 
seems likely that such a step would merely lead to the miserable death of the 
bird. The three pets are in perfect health. The blackcap began singing last 
December, and warbles from morning till night a cheery happy song, not much 
resembling its wild note, but much softer and very sweet in tone Some phrases 
are repeated two or three times after the manner of a thrush. The irrepressible 
bird will sing in ^nd out of its cage, when covered by a shawl, or under almost 
any circumstances. When I stand close to it it will warble joyously, looking up 
at me the while, as if telling me a long and interesting story. ” B'airy,” the 
whitethroat, began singing about the middle of February, so the two birds carry 
on their charming duets all day long. The nightingale is still mute save for the 
croak-like sound he emits when annoyed at the sight of a robin near his cage. 
FIi.iza Brightwen. 
Great Northern Diver (p. 38). — I am very much obliged to your two 
correspondents for correcting my statement about the gieat northern diver 
(Coly?ubus glacialis). But as, quite recently, I have been collecting all the avail- 
able information respecting the status of this bird in Great Britain, without 
being able to di.scover any fublished picof of its breeding on any part of the 
Scotch mainland, I felt justified in characterising the bare statement that this 
species breeds in the north of Scotland as an inaccuracy. That there aie 
grounds for believing that the .v]>ecies in que.stion has bred in the .Shetland Islands, 
I am well aware. But Mr. lirnest N. Savage’s statement that the great northern 
diver (Colynibus glacialis) has bred in 1S96, and “ for several years past, not very 
far from Koshven, where Mrs. Blackburn lives” (I assume, in Inverness-shire?) 
will, I am sure, be news to British ornithologists in gineral; indeed, Mrs. 
Blackburn her.self docs not allude to the fact — perhaps from motives of prudence. 
Having regard to the intense interest attaching to the sulject, Mr. Savage will, I 
am sure, jrardon the anxiety which ornithologists must naturally (and excusably I 
venture to think) feel to be assured that the birds which Mr. Savage observed 
breeding in the locality indicated were really examples of the great northern 
diver (Colynilus glacialis), and not inelividuals of another large diver, viz., the 
black-throated diver (C. atclicus), which, irr addition to the smaller red-throated 
diver (C. sttUnh icnalis), is well known to Iriid summer quarters on the lochs 
