Chirps and 
Chatter. 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
_( 3-0 
Chirps and Chatter. 
THE PORTRAIT ON THE COVER. 
Few people will have any difficulty in recognis¬ 
ing the bird outside our magazine, the Barn-owl, 
one of the most useful birds in the world, and cer¬ 
tainly not among the least ornamental, with the 
beautiful blending of buff, black, white, and grey 
on its upper plumage. A full-length portrait will 
be found on the page devoted to owl photographs, 
which shows the bird as he appears when wide 
awake. 
SOME LEADING OWLS. 
On the same page are portrayed various conspicu¬ 
ous members of Owl society, both British and 
foreign; for the grand Eagle-owl, as remarked in 
our last number, comes on the British list as a 
straggler, and the Arctic Snowy Owl occurs more 
frequently. The Milky Eagle-owl of South Africa 
rivals the European Eagle-owl in size, but differs 
much in its grey plumage and dark eyes. It is a 
curious fact that among Owls quite nearly-allied 
species may differ in the colour of their irides, 
whereas in Hawks a dark or light eye may run 
through whole groups. 
The Ural Owl is a European, though not a Brit¬ 
ish bird. It is a large species, and sometimes pro¬ 
duces a peculiar sooty-black variety. 
OWLS AS FISHERS. 
An owl, somehow, does not seem a likely bird 
to go a-fishing, yet our familiar Barn and Brown 
Owls occasionally take fish, and in warm climates 
in the Eastern Tropics there are Owls which are 
professional fishers. Such a one is Pel’s Owl in 
the picture, and it will be observed that he is bare¬ 
legged, a strange feature in an Owl, but found in 
all these fishing species. 
It is a curious fact that the Snowy Owl, with the 
most heavily-feathered feet of all, is also a fisher 
on occasion, but he is a bird that will turn his 
claws to anything. Flesh or fowl, or even carrion, 
contribute to his food, and he hunts either by day 
or by night. The present specimen was bred in 
an aviary in England, but this species is not nearly 
so easy to keep and breed as the Eagle-Owl. 
NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND. 
A correspondent of “Cage Birds” recently pro¬ 
cured a Tiercel (male) Peregrine Falcon with its 
flights so broken that it could hardly fly. It is 
worth knowing that a Hawk, or, for that matter, 
any other good-sized bird in this condition, can 
be made as good as new by the process known as 
“imping” by falconers. One needs to be pro¬ 
vided with feathers, corresponding to the broken 
flights, obtained from another bird of the same 
species, and with some “imping needles,” which 
have a point at each end. Then the broken feather 
and the substitute must be cut at an angle so as 
to fit accurately, and the ends of the needle—previ¬ 
ously dipped in brine to make it rust and thereby 
hold the better—be thrust into the stump and the 
piece of new feather till these meet. A properly 
imped feather will be as strong and last as well as 
a natural one. 
BREEDING OF THE PINE GROSBEAK. 
Mr. W. H. St. Quintin, in the December number 
of the Avicultural Magazine , relates his successful 
breeding of the Pine Grosbeak in an aviary. Curi¬ 
ously enough, the single hen bird, confined with 
three males, chose one with a stiff wing. He, how- 
ever, proved well able to keep all intruders away 
from the nest. The young-—two in number—were 
reared, at first, at all events, on fresh ants’ cocoons 
and other insects, the old birds showing that tame¬ 
ness which is so characteristic of this handsome 
finch. Mr. St. Quintin is of opinion that too much 
oily seed is bad for these birds, and makes their 
usual diet a variety of small seeds, with berries, 
apple and larch or hawthorn branches as green 
foods. 
BLUE TITS BARRED. 
It is interesting to read in the “Five Years’ 
Retrospect of Game Protection,” published by the 
United States Department 1 of Agriculture, that dur¬ 
ing this time fifteen specimens of the Blue-tit—• 
called in the report by its German name, “Blau- 
meise ”—were refused admission to the States, along 
with such beasts as the bloodthirsty mongoose and 
the fruit-destroying flying-fox. Their too success¬ 
ful experiment with what they persist in calling the 
“English” sparrow has evidently thoroughly fright¬ 
ened our friends across the water, although it has 
never been proved that any introduced bird has 
extirpated a native one anywhere; and, after all, 
just as many native animals have become pests in 
their own countries as have imported aliens. 
A TELL TALE TQURACOU, 
There has lately been received at the Zoo a bird 
which is heartily detested by big game hunters in 
South Africa, the Go-’way bird, or Grey Touracou 
(Schizorhis concolor). This public-spirited creature 
has a habit of flying across the veldt from one 
tree to another when someone is stalking antelope 
or what not, crying out “ Go-’way,” a suggestion 
which the animals concerned promptly act upon. 
Those readers of the Bird World who go often to 
shows or the Zoo know very well 1 what a Touracou 
is like, but they will also know it as' a beautiful 
green and purple bird, whereas this species, now 
imported into England for the first time, is of a 
plain slate colour, although very graceful in form. 
The birds in the Western Aviary, however, did not 
at all like the look of it; it seemed to strike them 
as a kind of hawk. 
TWO NEW BRITISH BIRDS. 
At a recent meeting (November 21st) of the Brit¬ 
ish Ornithologists’ Club, Mr. Eagle Clarke, of the 
Edinburgh Museum, exhibited specimens of the 
Red-rumped Swallow ( Hirundo rufula ) and the 
Siberian Chiffchaff ( Phylloscopus irislis), the first 
recorded in British limits. The Swallow is a very 
distinct and handsome species, witn a chestnut 
collar and patch on the lower back, and with the 
under-surface creamy white, with fine black streaks. 
It builds a curious flask-shaped nest, and does not 
usually range west of Italy. The Siberian Chiff- 
chaff is an insignificant-looking little bird, smaller 
and duller than our species, having less yellow 
tint in its plumage. It appears, however, to have 
more vocal power, having a loud song. Its natural 
home is in the east of Europe, as well as in Siberia. 
This bird was procured at Suliskerry, and the Swab 
low at Fair Isle. 
