Chirps and 
Ch itter. 
(219) THE BIRD WORLD. 
Late Singing of the Lark. 
This year’s summer has been one of 
surprises, and the brilliant weather of 
September was responsible for many 
unusual doings amongst bird life. A 
writer, speaking of the late singing of 
the Lark, says :—“ Listen to the Lark ! ” 
was the exclamation of my friend last 
week, when strolling along a well-kept 
road in the lovely county of Berwick¬ 
shire. On one side of this road lies a 
fine, grassy, sweet-scented moor, where 
the cows of the villagers graze; and on 
the other fields of clover. “ A Lark 
singing in September! Impossible,” 
was the reply. We had only to stand 
one moment for the doubtful one to be 
convinced that it really was a Lark, 
the “ herald of spring,” which was fill¬ 
ing the air with its sweet song as it rose 
higher and higher in the azure sky. 
Thinking it might be only one little 
bird which had made a mistake one 
bright, sunny morning, I returned to 
the same spot on the following morning, 
and, to my delight and surprise, I was 
rewarded by hearing the same sweet 
music, trilling forth from several little 
throats. For ten days I have watched 
them, and the number of this spring 
songster, singing in autumn, seems to be 
increasing. This morning, when stand¬ 
ing on the moor, I watched at least ten 
of them rising out of the tufts of grass, 
and soaring aloft, their song of joy in¬ 
creasing as they rose. I wonder if 
anyone else has enjoyed this unusual 
treat at this season. 
How Far South? 
The question has been raised, in one 
of the dailies, as to “ How far South 
do the Swallows fly on their annual 
migration ? ” and a correspondent writes 
as follows :—“ I can answer for last 
year, at all events. Being near Cape 
Town on December 24th, I observed a 
flock of Swallows flying round the trees 
at the foot of Table Mountain. It 
seemed a Christmas message from home. 
The birds had apparently just arrived, 
and as they generally leave our coasts 
somewhere about October 8th, they 
might well take ten weeks to arrive in 
the Cape Peninsula.” 
The Colours of Eggs. 
The variation in the colour of the 
eggs of sea birds is wonderful, especi¬ 
ally with the Guillemots, the com¬ 
monest markings of which are blue- 
green or white in ground colour with 
black splashes, while the rarer varieties 
are of a fine rich red on a white or buff 
ground colour. The rarest Razorbill 
eggs are heavily marked with a reddish 
chocolate, and are almost as handsome 
as those of the Osprey, while the com¬ 
moner varieties are white in ground 
colour with black markings. What 
causes so much variation no one has 
satisfactorily explained, but that certain 
birds lay certain types of eggs seems 
quite certain, for the climbers, when 
they come across a well-marked speci¬ 
men, can very often find another with 
the same kind of markings on revisiting 
the spot. 
The Language of the Gulls. 
Chicago University is fast becoming 
the home of discovery as well as of 
prophecy and invention. The latest 
achievement of its professor of psy¬ 
chology, Dr. John S. Watson, is to learn 
that Seagulls “ have a language of their 
own which human beings can imitate ” : 
that they live in family groups in speci¬ 
ally built nest-houses, and that they 
show unusual reasoning power. Dr. 
Watson has just returned from a visit 
of scientific enquiry to the Andrew Car¬ 
negie station for biological experiment 
on the Dry Tortugas Islands off the 
lower Florida coast, which have a rare 
species of Tern whose characteristics 
have much interested American scien¬ 
tists. But beyond crediting the Gulls 
with the power of speech he has re¬ 
vealed little that could not equally 
apply to other species of birds. That 
they possess singular cuteness is evi¬ 
dent, for Dr. Watson confesses that he 
was obliged “ to lie in the hot sun for 
hours at a time in order to deceive the 
Gulls and overcome their fear of his 
intrusion.” Intelligent birds; it is well 
that all should be told about them in 
the book which the professor has pro¬ 
mised to write for Mr. Carnegie. 
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