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Notes

01 November 1963 Comments Notes IT has long been known that, in the Common Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) the mandibles cross indifferently on either side in different individuals. Recently, however, for a special purpose, I desired to ascertain whether or not individuals having the man...

Notes

01 May 1963 Comments Notes FOE some years now I have been paying particular attention to the nestlings of common birds. It is of course now known to all ornithologists that the parents keep the nest clean (as a general rule) by carrying away the excrement, and often by swallowing ...

Notes

01 April 1963 Comments Notes W E have received a good many schedules relating to these two inquiries (see Vol. VI., pp. 296-311, and Vol. VII, pp. 4-6), but we sincerely hope that many more of our readers will send in particulars. This should now be done without delay, and if the fo...

Notes

01 February 1948 Comments Notes DURING the years 1946 and 1947 I have noticed several species singing outside what appears to be their normal song-period as defined in The Handbook charts. Some of these variations are considerable, others less so. The particulars are as follows :-- NUT...

Notes

01 December 1946 Comments Notes ON April 26th, 1946, I found near Portchester, Hants., the nest of a Magpie (Pica p. pica) containing eleven eggs, all very round in shape and smaller than usual. Only one hen was observed at the nest, which is in a hawthorn and has been used for years ;...

Notes

01 September 1946 Comments Notes THE habit of sun-bathing by passerine birds.is discussed in a note by T. S. Williams (antea, p. 152). As indicated in the Editorial comment thereto this is probably commoner than at first sight appears to be the case. To the list of species given I can a...

Notes

01 July 1946 Comments Notes Ox February 22nd, 1946, I received word from David Reid that a pair of Ravens {Corvus c. corax) were building a nest in a small Ayrshire heronry. I visited the site two days later and the nest, which could be distinguished from the Herons' by the presenc...

Notes

01 June 1946 Comments Notes WITH reference to Lt.-Col. B. H. Ryves's statement (antea, p. 43) that all species of buntings are absent in the Scillies, it may be of interest to record that my husband and I saw and heard several Corn-Buntings {Emberiza calandra) in song on St. Agnes,...

Birds of inner London

01 June 1946 Comments Main paper D U R I N G the year under review (1945), there has been one new record for Inner London, viz., t h e White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons), a flock of this species having been seen by Mrs. Rait Kerr crossing over Lords on February 17th. Mr. Holte Macpher...

Letters

01 May 1946 Comments Letters SIRS,--Mr. N. D. Pullen, Mr. H. G. Hurrell and Miss N. C. Hicks (antea, Vol. xxxviii, pp. 206, 300 and 360) have drawn attention t o an interesting problem of behaviour. I have observed t h e " digging " in the bottom of the nest, as described by the abov...