September reports

01 December 1974 Comments News and comment These are largely unchecked reports, not authenticated records. September was, like August, dominated by weather from the North Atlantic, as a seemingly unending series of deep depressions crossed Ireland and Britain. Severe gales occurred early in the...
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News and comment

01 December 1974 Comments News and comment The Great Oystercatcher Robbery For the second successive winter the Ministry of Agriculture and the South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee are organising a major cull among Oystercatchers wintering in the Burry Inlet, south Wales. This is being d...
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Reviews

01 December 1974 Comments Reviews The Seabirds of Britain and Ireland. By S. Cramp, W. R. P. Bourne and D. Saunders. Collins, London, 1974. 287 pages; four colour and eight black-and-white plates; 32 maps, linedrawings. £3.50. This long-awaited book gives an excellent survey o...
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Letters

01 December 1974 Comments Letters Eye colour of the Hen Harrier D. I. M. Wallace's remarks (Brit. Birds, 65:358-359) on the eye colour of an immature of the American subspecies of the Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus hudsonius at Cley, Norfolk (see Brit. Birds, 64: 537-542), were confusing a...
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Notes

01 December 1974 Comments Notes Hen Harriers' hunting behaviour in south-west Scotland Hen Harriers Circus cyaneus are generally regarded as solitary hunters. For example, J. J. and F. C. Craighead (1956, Hawks, Owls and Wildlife) found that in winter Marsh Hawks C. c. hudsonius had ...
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The Voice of the Barn Owl

01 December 1974 Comments Main paper In their descriptions of the voice of the Barn Owl Tyto alba, the majority of books make no more than vague mention of eerie screams, hisses and snores, with perhaps some reference to the twittering sounds that can be heard at closer quarters. Apart fr...
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Letters

01 January 1947 Comments Letters SIRS.--dingers who t r a p adult or first-winter Starlings during January t o March would serve a very useful purpose by noting whether t h e eye is entirely dark or has a narrow light ring, and t h e « x t e n t t o which t h e bill has begun t o turn...
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Reviews

01 January 1947 Comments Reviews The Hastings and East Sussex Naturalist: Notes on the Local Fauna and Flora for 1945. By N. F . Ticehurst (Recorder). T H I S interesting area again produces a number of noteworthy records. The chief ornithological event mentioned is the breeding of Black...
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Notes

01 January 1947 Comments Notes As INSTANCES of "injury-feigning" on the part of the Meadow-Pipit (Anthus pratensis) are rare the following may be worth recording. On June 15th, 1946, in Co. Kerry, I disturbed a Meadow-Pipit from its nest, which contained five eggs. The bird flew a dis...
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