SELB0RN1A NA 
ii 
Notes, p. 79 : — “ I have not seen one sparrow in my place Dol-llan, Llandepid, 
since I have lived there, over a year. The crocuses are eaten voraciously by mice, 
to my disgust. I have great numbers of owls (barn and wood), this may 
account for absence of sparrows, but they cannot exterminate the mice, they 
breed so fast.” G. W. L’Estrange. 
Birds Singing as they Fly.— The meadow lark, Anthus pralensis , 
sings always on the wing, and in the early spring may be seen rising at short 
intervals to a considerable height and returning again with an arrow-like rapidity 
of descent to the same spot, singing both in its ascending and descending flight. 
I have never heard its song on the ground. 
In his British Months , Bishop Mant, an accurate observer of Nature, writes : — 
and again : — 
“ The sweetest woodlark round and round 
Wide wheeling in his circling flight, 
Pours forth his morning, evening song.” 
“ High in mid air the woodlark sings.” 
I have often watched the whitethroat, Curruca cinerea , making short zigzag 
excursions from the willows, and returning always to the same spot, singing 
loudly while on the wing with the throat distended and the feathers of the crest 
and head standing erect. The willow wren, Sylvia trochilus, also sings on the 
wing ; and probably, though I have not seen them, some older members of the 
Sylviadee. 
The Rectory , Clyst St. Mary , Exeter. J. A. Kerr. 
In addition to the birds that sing flying, mentioned by F. W. B. in last 
number of Nature Notes, the following may be named, viz., the woodlark, 
tree pipit and marsh pipit, all of which do most of their singing on the wing, 
and are all nearly related to the skylark. That merry little bird the sedge warbler 
also frequently sings flying, and so does the green linnet. I have seen the 
blackbird do so, but only from one tree to another close by. I cannot remember 
ever hearing the song or missel thrushes, but think it is very likely both may do 
so. I scarcely think that the cuckoo can be termed a singing bird, its song being 
a call of the same nature as that of the landrail and quail. The sweet twitter- 
ings of the house martin and chimney swallow on the wing may fairly entitle 
them to the name of song birds. 
Dundee. George Ure. 
The paragraph in this month’s Nature Notes referring to birds singing as 
they fly seems to invite further remarks. The following birds have been observed 
by me performing their lovesong on the wing : the whinchat, nightingale, 
tree pipit, whitethroat, wren, swallow, hedge accentor or dunnock, in addition 
to the lark and cuckoo mentioned by F. W. B. 
If the singing of birds on the wing consists in the mere production of musical 
sounds from the throat while flying, many other species than the above possess 
the same power ; there are the laughing cry of the gull, the quack of the heron, 
the call of the peewit, the scape, scape of the snipe, the caw of the rook and 
jackdaw, the harsh screech of the jay, the scream of the swift, the chirp of the 
kingfisher and water ouzel, the chatter of the magpie and others, all of which I 
have heard singing to the best of their ability, the dipper, however, having in 
addition to the chirp a pretty little song which he sings when perched on a 
stone or tree stump. 
Rich/nond. J. Lyddon Pring. 
Tame Birds and Beasts. — The Rev. F. O. Morris sends us the following 
letter received by him from Mrs. Cole, of Condover Hall, Shrewsbury: — “ I am 
so glad to see a letter from you in to-day’s Morning Post , and venture to think 
you may be interested to hear about a few tame birds and beasts we have here now, 
notably of a kestrel. I see in your book on British Birds , you state that the 
kestrel is easily tamed. Our bird was taken from a nest last year, and put into a 
cage out of doors for a few days only, until fledged ; he was then turned out and 
flew across the park into the woods, and was seen no more for some days, when 
he returned, found his way into the house, and has never voluntarily left it since. 
We often turn him out, and see him a mile or more from the house, but soon after 
