NATURE NOTES 
114 
and on my remaining stationary it continued feeding until I got tired of holding 
the vessel, when it hopped on to the ground and then on to my boot. 
During a walk through a pine wood one day, a hare came in my direction, 
and I sat down to note the result. The rodent came on unsuspectingly for a 
time, stopped and sniffed the air, and came on again. It was between my legs 
before it realised its position, when it turned and made its way down the lane. 
Squirrels are very unsuspecting, as a rule, if there is no stir, and on one 
occasion one of these actually crawled into a butterfly net I had laid aside while 
I filled my pipe. Another of the same animals rested upon a plank while I fished, 
for some ten minutes, and did not move while I walked past it several times. 
No end of such instances could be given, but maybe the best illustration of 
the heading I know of is when a robin perched upon the bald head of the parson 
in church during service. I could not forbid a smile, which smite was soon 
upset when the redbreast came my way and settled upon my shoulder, where 
it remained for a much longer period than seemed comfortable under the 
circumstances. 
Whinhtirst, A. NiCOL SiMPSON, F.Z.S. 
Fordoun, N.B. 
241. I was one day waiting behind some alders in order to photograph 
snipe, when a sedge-warbler alighted on my head, and poured forth his song. 
It is no uncommon thing for birds to inspect the waiting photographer, or for 
tiny field-mice to run over one’s feet. These are the incidentals that make the 
hours of watching worth while, even when the results photographically are 
nothing. 
Upper Birchetts, Langton Green, Emma L. Turner. 
Tunbridge Wells. 
242. Rooks.— I am interested in your question 49, re rooks, having fre- 
quently noticed, not only amongst rooks, but amongst other large birds also, 
this third bird, and wondered whether its position is that of valet, lady’s maid, 
messenger, or rejected swain, or what ? As far as my observation serves me, 
this odd bird is the rule rather than the exception. 
Hallsannery , Bideford, J. C. Lamb. 
May 2 , 1905. 
234. Greybirds. — With reference to the remark on p. 83 of the May 
number of Nature Notes, “Greybirds are, we believe, thrushes,” I may say 
that “greybird” is a common name in Kent and in other parts of England 
for missel-thrushes, not for the throstle or song-thrush. 
WirPswori/i. C. E. Meade Waldo. 
244. Hedge-Sparrow Singing at Night.— In the May number of 
Nature Notes a correspondent mentions having heard the hedge-sparrow 
singing at night, and asks if a similar case has been heard of. In my opinion it 
is quite a common occurrence, having heard the gentle little bird break out into 
song on several occasions at quite a late hour, having doubtless been disturbed 
by some passing prowler. Other day-songsters also will sometimes sing during 
the night. On one occasion I heard our little favourite, the robin, singing in a 
copse quite late on a dark night in October, the song being repeated several 
times in a clear and distinct tone, and not as if the bird had been alarmed in 
any way. 
Fyfield, near Abingdon. W. II. Warner. 
245. With reference to the enquiry of Mr. N. C. Vaisey, I may say that I 
have occasionally heard the hedge-sparrow singing at about midnight, or in the 
small, dark hours of the morning. The last time I listened to this night-singer 
was in the spring of 1903, two or three times. I have sometimes heard the 
cuckoo during the nocturnal hours of May, and the .skylark has often commenced 
his charming song in the faint, early twilight. More rarely I have also recognised 
the notes of the blackbird in the middle of the night. 
While engaged in astronomical observations during the nocturnal hours, I have 
often been surprised at the large number of birds passing over. They can be 
