Letters

13 March 2014
Comments Letters D o some Wallcreepers migrate? Recent letters by David Elias, H. G. Alexander and Guy Mountfort on the movements of the Wallcreeper Tichodroma muraria referred respectively to observations in Cyprus (Brit. Birds, 63: 393-394) and the Indo-Pakistan subc...
Read More

Letters

01 July 1997
Comments Letters The paper on the spring migration of White-billed Divers Gavia adamsii past southwestern Norway (Brit. Birds 88: 125-129) prompts a closer examination of the possible significance of spring records in British waters, particularly as it was suggested th...
Read More

Letters

01 March 1995
Comments Letters I was fascinated to read the reference, in the item on 'Identification by taste', to my great-grandfather, John Cordeaux (Brit. Birds 87: 447). I looked up his last publication, a revised list of British Birds belonging to the Humber District (1899), a...
Read More

Letters

01 November 1993
Comments Letters Red-crested Pochard hybrids. The occurrence of hybrids involving Red-crested Pochards Netta rufina may not be so unusual as is suggested by A. H. J. Harrop's note (Brit. Birds 86: 130). A. P. Gray (1958) recorded hybrids with 11 species of the genus An...
Read More

Letters

01 April 1986
Comments Letters Escapes? Some years ago, Derek Goodwin and the late Derrick England published some long comments on the problem for birdwatchers of escaped cage birds (Brit. Birds49: 339-349; 67: 177-197). Since those papers, a new generation of birders has appeared, ...
Read More

Letters

01 March 1986
Comments Letters 'Pishing' technique. For many years, I have been delighting and often surprising overseas birders visiting North America by enticing numbers of passerines and other landbirds out of dense cover and into view by 'pishing'. Although the technique varies ...
Read More

Letters

01 August 1983
Comments Letters The origin of 'twitcher'. Richard Porter (Brit. Birds 75: 537) has traced 'twitcher' back to 1968, but what were 'people who chase rare birds' called before that? My recollection is that before the Second World War they were known as 'pot-hunters', and...
Read More

Letters

01 January 1980
Comments Letters Bare-part colour of Snowy and Little Egrets The editorial comment which followed G. J. Oreel's letter on field identification of Snowy Egret Egretta thula (Brit. Birds 72: 128-129) was over-simplified and may be misleading. We hope that the fol...
Read More

Letters

01 September 1978
Comments Letters Great Blue and aberrant Grey Herons I was interested to learn of the two observations of melanistic Grey Herons Ardea cinerea (Brit. Birds 70: 76, 345-346), as well as the one seen in the Camargue, France, by Dr J. G. and Dr P. F. Harrison and ...
Read More

Letters

01 July 1978
Comments Letters Diving methods of Great Northern and Black-throated Divers On inland waters, I have noticed that Great Northern Divers Gavia immer always slither under slowly when diving, whereas Black-throated G. arctica jump upwards slightly before they dive...
Read More

Stay at the forefront of British birding by taking out a subscription to British Birds.

Subscribe Now