34 
NATURE NOTES 
their nests ! The point raised is at any rate an interesting one, and should afford 
scope for research and observation during the coming nesting season. 
St. Albans, W. Percival Westell, M.B.O.U. 
January, 1902. 
The Great Bustard and the Ruff. — Dr. Crespi’s interesting notes in 
the January issue remind me of a few pages of a book on birds which a friend 
rescued from a grocer’s counter, and which contains an account of this beautiful 
species. I cannot trace any date on the pages, and the few remnants sent me are 
very dilapidated, but apparently it was published after 1819, and the immortal 
Selborne naturalist is referred to as "the Kev. Mr. White.” The following 
notes from these fragments are interesting ; “ At periods not very remote, 
bustards were frequently seen in flocks on Salisbury Plain, on tbe heaths of 
Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Sussex, the Dorsetshire uplands, the Yorkshire 
Wolds, and in East Lothian. The bustard is said to be the largest native bird 
of Britain This bird is fast disappearing from our island, but we 
earnestly hope that everyone, sportsman or no sportsman, will respect the little 
remnant yet remaining of the numerous flocks which once graced our country, 
and save the breed of this noble bird from utter extinction in England. In the 
eastern part of the country we fear that it is quite lost, though it was compara- 
tively common some time ago. It is the more necessary to impress on our readers 
the importance of abstaining from the destruction of the few above alluded to, 
because there is not much hoped replenishing the breed by captive birds.” How 
true this latter statement has proved to be is well known to those who have 
followed Lord Walsingham’s noble efforts to reinstate this noble bird in our 
country. A few particulars anent tbe ruff from the same work are also interesting : 
“ These birds are found in Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely, and in the East Riding 
of Yorkshire. They are much more scarce than they were formerly 
•Some are, however, still to be met with in the vicinity of Crowland ; but the 
North fen near Spalding, and the East and West fens between Boston and 
Spilsby, are the only parts that appear to produce them with certainty, and 
there by no means in plenty.” 
St. Albans, VI. Percival Westell, M.B.O.U. 
January, 1902. 
The Song Thrush in Winter. — Many ornithologists assert that the 
majority of our song thrushes migrate in the winter, but my own observations 
have always led me to a contrary opinion, and during this winter (1901-02) I 
have never seen so many song thrushes: indeed, next to sparrows and starlings, 
and perhaps one should add robins, hedge-sparrows, ring doves and rooks, the 
song thrush has been quite the commonest bird of the country side. I certainly 
see a great many more of these birds during the winter than throughout any other 
part of the year. 
St. Albans, W. Percival Westell, M.B.O.U. 
January, 1902. 
The Song of Birds. — Mr. C. J. Maurice’s note in the January is.sue is 
somewhat misleading, inasmuch as the robin and wren do not sing all the year 
through. The most persistent avian songster is, without doubt, the skylark : next 
comes perhaps the robin, then the hedge-sparrow and others. The wren always 
appears to me to be a most spasmodic songster and rarely seems in continued 
song. No birds sing the whole year through in our country : the moulting season 
invariably means a cessation of song for at least one month. But as to the in- 
teresting question Mr. Maurice raises as to the reason for bird’s songs when 
sexual passions are of no importance or moment, I cannot ofler an opinion. 
Jerome K. Jerome, in writing of the sparrow controversy some little time since, 
said we no more understood sparrow nature than we do human nature, and 
Jerome was not far out, at least as regards the meaning of birds’ songs : the more 
one studies the question, the more the mystery deepens as to the correct interpre- 
tation to be put upon their melodies when uttered other than during the pairing 
and nesting season. 
St. Albans, W. Percival Westell, M.B.O.U. 
January, 1902. 
