Militant American 
Birds. 
(132) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
rather than a warrior; but “ it gets 
there/’ as the Americans say. It is a 
great mimic, and its favourite pastime 
is to utilize this characteristic for the 
express purpose of exasperating the 
Hawk past endurance. It not only 
flagrantly mocks the latter on every con¬ 
ceivable occasion, but gives such yells 
if caught as to bring a whole swarm 
of his fellows to the rescue.. This they 
achieve by taking a boisterous part in 
the merriment, circling round the dis¬ 
tracted Hawk with tormenting cries, 
until sometimes, in very despair, the 
latter seizes upon the nearest miscreant, 
and makes of it a sacrifice. Then the 
tune changes, and the Jays become sig¬ 
nificantly subdued in manner, but ten 
times more noisy in song. 
A 'Dauntless Fighter. 
A much smaller bird than the Jay, 
however, is able “ on its own,” as the 
saying is, to drive this depredator from 
his haunts. This is particularly the 
case during the breeding season, when 
affection for his mate and young prompts 
him to exert all his offensive powers and 
dare every danger to protect them from 
the destroyer. So dauntless is it, 
indeed, that even Eagles recoil from its 
attacks. It is called the King Bird, 
or Tyrant Flycatcher (Muscicapa 
tyrannus), and is a bird of passage in 
the United States. 
Seagulls and Swans at 
Variance. 
Continuous strife between Black¬ 
headed Gulls and a pair of Swans is in 
progress on Moorthwaite Lough, an 
expanse of water in the Wigton district 
o f Cumberland. The increasing 
11 colony ” of Gulls there resent the in¬ 
trusion of the royal birds, who have 
built their bulky nest in the midst of the 
gullery. The Swans are by now grow¬ 
ing quite proficient in dodging the fierce 
attacks of the seabirds, but the former 
are not above retaliating in a more 
effective manner by destroying the flimsy 
nests of the Gulls. 
Nesting of the Woodcock. 
The Mayor of Accrington has recently 
been fortunate enough to secure two 
photographs of a Woodcock’s nest near 
Clitheroe. One, a snap of the bird on 
the nest, and the other an exceedingly 
good one of the four eggs. The game- 
keeper who found the nest noticed four 
young Woodcocks in a wood, and close 
to them a nest containing one egg; the 
photograph was taken when the second 
clutch was complete; the bird is occa-- 
sionally double-brooded. Mr. Higham 
says that the Woodcock is very rare as 
a breeding species in the neighbourhood 
of Clitheroe. The bird appears to be 
steadily increasing as a nesting species 
in many parts of England; there are 
several records of nests from Lancashire 
beyond the Sands, and one or two from 
other parts of the county; in Cheshire 
a few pairs seem to nest every year. A 
curious and little-known fact in connec¬ 
tion with the Woodcock has recently been 
pointed out by Mr. Charles Whymper. 
In a letter published in the first number 
of British Birds he calls attention to the 
fact that the ear of the bird is in front 
of and not behind the eye. Although 
Nitzch and perhaps other ornithologists 
have apparently noticed the abnormal 
position of the Woodcock’s ear, no one 
seems to have called special attention 
to it. 
1// 
Yicar and the Mother Rook. 
A correspondent of the “ Spectator ” 
mentions the case of a vicar in Brecon¬ 
shire who had an acre of his glebe-land 
which had become coarse, and he was 
advised to plough it up and sow corn. 
When the corn sprouted a few Rooks 
trespassed, but one especial mother 
Rook was there all day—her nestlings 
were close by. The vicar became en¬ 
raged, and though he had never before 
killed a Rook, he took his gun and shot 
the mother. He fully expected to be 
justified in the examination of the crop, 
which was crammed, but not with corn. 
It was full of wire-worm, and contained 
very few grains of corn. The vicar told 
the correspondent that never again would 
he take gun against a Rook. 
