rO CORRESPONDENTS. 
39 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
The Spotted Fly-catcher (p. 243). — In the wilds of the West Riding of 
Yorkshire, I have found the young of the spotted fly-catcher still in the nest as 
late as August. I think this points to their being a second brood, though this 
bird does not build until r.tther late in the spring, and in this part of Yorkshire, 
more than t, 200ft. above the sea level, birds are some weeks later nesting than in 
the south. 
E. G. W. 
Mildness of Weather.— It may interest the readers of Nature Notes to 
hear that a hedge-sparrow’s nest was found here in a stack of beans on January 6, 
containing one egg. 
Oakley, Brill, Bucks. A. M. G. 
Birds and Windows (p. 18). — My experience coincides with that of K. K. 
I have often watched them feeding close to my window until some sudden move- 
ment inside the room has taken place, when they invariably take flight — every 
variety of bird but rooks. I should like to know the expeiience of others with 
birds and small wild animals with regard to sounds. I think that very few, if 
any, sounds of the human voice alarms them. I have often watched bir<ls feeding 
on the lawn with perfect equanimity while young people were shouting and chat- 
tering quite close to them, as long as no sudden movement was made. The same 
with mice in the garden. One day a number of children collected to see a tiny 
mouse eating the seeds on a plant of blue cornflower, and no amount of screaming 
cn their part disturbed it, but a sudden movement - and it was gone I The sound 
of a gun always puts them to flight, or the slamming of a door. My theory is that 
it is not the sound of the report of the gun, but the sudden concussion of the air 
which alarms them, and I am inclined to think that they are unable to hear many 
sounds which we can hear. I have often amused myself at the profound contem|)t 
with which rooks treat the shouting of the boys placed in the fields to keep them 
off the crops. M. S. Y. 
My experience coincides with that of F. R., as I have noticed when watching 
most birds through a window, only a very slight movement is sufficient to frighten 
them. Speaking of birds and windows reminds me of what a friend told me the 
other day, viz., that a robin taps at her conservatory window about four o’clock 
every afternoon to be let in for the night. She has every reason to believe the 
same bird came last winter. 
Exeter. K. L. 
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