228 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
307 . Birds in Field and Garden.— Under this heading, Advocatus 
Diaboli, asks for information from lands where the destruction of useful birds 
has been allowed to go on till it was too late. I venture to state that in my 
opinion the scarcity of small birds in France and Switzerland is very much 
e.xaggerated. I was intimately acquainted with Brittany and Normandy, and began 
taking notes as early as 1878, on birds observed during long walks through these 
provinces. Blackbirds, thrushes, chaffinches and goldfinches were especially 
abundant. A few Frenchmen shoot the two former species for the pot, but this 
reprehensible practice is also very much in vogue in the south of England. When 
considering the scarcity of small birds abroad, we must take into account that 
the large tracts of forest on the Continent with scanty undergrowth are inimical 
to bird life ; as to Mid and South France, I am not in a position to speak. I once 
made a stay of two months in the Austrian Tyrol, and on the eve of an expedi- 
tion up one of the mountains, ar> old English resident of twenty years’ standing 
informed me that the Continental sportsman had destroyed most of the small 
birds in Tyrol ; but shortly after starting next morning, in a pine forest, we were 
rejoiced to come across two flocks of crossbills, numerous tits, &c. We made 
many excursions after this and saw a fair amount of bird life, including some rarities. 
In Nature Notes {vide July, page 135), I described how the starling did 
some damage to sprouting wheat, and was taken to task in consequence by Mr. 
Daubeny, who stated that I had given the starling too bad a character, but I 
only told the truth, and he was quite under a misapprehension when he thought 
I intended to convey the idea that the starling did more harm than good. When 
dead birds come into my possession I always dissect them and send the stomach 
contents to experts for identification, and in this way am quite aware how bene- 
ficial the starling is to agriculture. Mr. Daubeny asks what fruit besides cherries 
starlings eat. I can tell him they eat rasps and figs, and sometimes peck into pears. 
In Denmark, it may interest some readers of Nature Notes to learn, that 
starlings are only allowed to be shot from July i to August 19. 
In the Field a few years ago a correspondent answering a note of mine anent 
the food of the starling, remarked that skylarks had completely ruined an eight- 
acre wheat field, but in my own experience, on only one occasion have I found 
them doing damage to wheat, when the stomachs of two larks shot near .some 
offending starlings contained the whitish pulp derived from wheat grains. 
Southsea, Hants. J. E. H. Kelso. 
308 . Longevity of Wild Birds. — With reference to Mr. Thorburn’s 
query in our last number, Mr. J. E. Darting kindly refers to an article by Mr. 
J. II. Gurney in The Ibis for January, 1899. — El). N.N. 
309 . House Martins and Sparrows. — This spring a pair of house 
martins built their nest under the eaves of Kimberley Douse, the residence of 
Mr. Josiah Richardson, Barmby Moor, Yorkshire. A few days ago the old nest 
was removed, when it was noticed that the opening was closed and inside was 
found a dead sparrow. One of the workmen informs us that he noticed with 
interest (in the nesting season) great excitement amongst the martins, and 
wondered why a number of them combined to seal up the door of the nest. The 
dead body of the poor usurper explains their combined action to punish with 
death the foe who refused to be ejected. I have often heard similar stories, but 
have not until now been able to verify them. 
W. D. Wooo Rees. 
310 . “Belated” Martins. — On November 7 a solitaryhou.se martin might 
be seen skimming over our village. An old parishioner, who years ago used to 
spend his winters in a barn thrashing corn with a flail, tells me that he remembers 
a pair of swallows or martins making their lodging there until spring, taking 
occasional flights when the weather was fine. Could this be correct ? The old 
man’s idea was that they lived on the gn.ats which on fine days lake a turn out, 
and upon the spiders which abounded in the barn roof. 
\V. D. Wood Rees, 
Hon. Sec. East Riding. 
