NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
31 / 
On July 6 a brood of five blue tits took to wing wliich had been batched 
in a large iron crane near the wheel at the top. It was in constant use lifting 
heavy weights from railway trucks. 
57, Shakespeare Street, Stratford-on-Avon, !■’. W. Savac.I';. 
September 9, 1902. 
Moorhens. — The sexton of the village of Stauground in Huntingdonshire 
told me that in the early hours of the morning, before it was light, both he and 
his wife had been aroused by a noise in the chimney. At the usual time he got 
up and went to work, but when he returned home for his midday meal his wife 
asked him to go upstairs as there was a strange bird in the room. He went and 
chased the bird into a cupboard and captureil it. It proved to be a moorhen. 
It had evidently perched on the top of the chimney, gone to sleep, and had 
accidentally fallen down. I have had such birds as starlings, jackdaws, and on 
one occasion a pigeon come flapping down a chimney in the early hours of the 
morning, but what was the moorhen doing perched on the top of a chimney ? 
Peter Imough, September 20, 1902. VV. H. Ber.nard Saunders. 
Crow attacking a Dog.— One severe winter a pug dog was attacked by a 
grey crow, which made repeated swoops at it in a determined manner. The dog 
took refuge under a gate, close to which the crow settled with the apparent inten- 
tion of renewing the attack when the dog moved. On the dog’s master approach- 
ing the crow took itself off. Hunger no doubt was the cause of this onslaught. 
Market IVeston, Thetford, Ed.mund Titos. Daubenv. 
September, 1902. 
Homes for Birds. — In February last I put up an old tea-kettle for a pair 
of robins to build in, and in due time six young weie reared. I put a house- 
sparrow’s egg in with the robins’ eggs, and in due time the sparrow was hatched 
and reared by the robins. J. Hiam. 
Rare Visitors. — On Wednesday, the 8th last, when out in the fields, I 
heard an unusual note for this locality in the autumn — in fact, at any season— the 
note of the ring-ouzel, which I never met with in the autumn before. It was in a 
tall, neglected hawthorn hedge, and to make sure that I was not mistaken, I 
went round, and it flew off into the next hedge, a distance of about too yards. 
I also saw a solitary wheatear, on wheat not set up, a few weeks, which is a 
rare bird in autumn, and only occasionally seen in spring. J. Hi.a.m. 
Scops’ Owl and Ring-Ousel. — In regard to your correspondent, VV. 
Westell’s article in Nature Notes of September last, concerning “ Scops’ Owl 
and ring-ouzel Nesting in Hertfordshire,” I beg to quote Howard Saunders, in his 
“ Manual of British Birds.” In speaking of Scops’ owl he says: “The often- 
repeated story of the breeding of the Scops’ owl at Castle Eden Den in Durham 
is untrue ; while, as regards the five or six occurrences ascribed to Norfolk, Mr. 
J. H. Gurney, junior, considers only one, that of November, 1861, can be implicitly 
relied on.” 
Harrogate, Yorks., NOEL Porter. 
October 14, 1902. 
Red-underwing Moth. — On the morning of October i, I noticed a fine 
specimen of Catocata nupta on the trunk of an elm, close to the gate of a house 
and the pavement of a fairly busy suburban road, and within thirty yards of a fixed 
stopping-place of a line of ’buses. It was still there on the morning of the 3rd, 
but had disappeared on my return in the evening. 
October, 1902. R. M. W. 
A Mysterious Butterfly. — On August 13 last I saw in North Devon a 
butterfly which seemed to be new in my experience. I consulted Barrett’s plates 
of the British Lepidoptera, and the nearest approach to my insect was afforded by 
Theda quercAs (female). But I am now informed by Mr. Barrett that the butter- 
fly was probably not British, nor even European. It has therefore occurred to 
me that possibly the insect may have been unintentionally brought over to this 
country by some of the American visitors who this year swarm at Clovelly, and 
some of whom have doubtless stayed at Bideford. 
