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NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
Field Mice Eating Putty.—I had a mass of putty lying upon the ground
in an open shed, and I find about one pound of it has been devoured by
mice, which I have reason to think were the large Field Mouse (Mus sylvaticus).
H. Mothersole, Chelmsford. [I have repeatedly noticed this habit in the com-
mon domestic mouse, and it appears to have no injurious effect upon them.—
H. A. Cole.]
Homing Pigeon taking to the Wild.—The only interesting note I have
of late is that, in shooting a rabbit on December 22nd, a pigeon flew out of a high
tree above me. I killed this with the second barrel ; when picked up it proved to
be a Homing Pigeon. The feathers under the wings were dyed magenta. The
curious thing is that I afterwards discovered that this bird had taken up its abode
on this tree for more than three months, roosting there at night, and spending
most of the day upon it. It had wheat and maize in its crop, so it evidently fed at
one of the neighbouring farms ; though it never fed at the nearest fowl-yards, of
which there are two within a couple of hundred yards. I do not remember having
come across such a lapse from civilisation in a tame pigeon before.—Champion
B. Russell, "Stubbers," Romford, December 29th, 1896. [We fancy that the
esteemed Hon. Sec. to the Essex Bird Society regretted having killed that
pigeon !—Ed.]
Woodcock in Epping Forest.—On November 20th, 1896, when prospect-
ing for fungi in the Walthamstow portion of Epping Forest I flushed a woodcock
(Scolopax rusticula). I was within three yards of the bird, when I saw it rise
from beneath a holly bush laden with berries.—Charles Oldham, South
Woodford. [See note on this bird in the Forest, ante p. 52.—Ed.]
Late-Staying Martins and Swallows at Chelmsford.—I have noticed
with pleasure that the House-Martin (Chelidon urbica) and the Chimney Swallow
(Hirundo rustica) have increased in numbers the last few years in this neighbour-
hood. But the season of 1896 has been, I fear, a very trying one for them, and
especially the late broods. A pair of Martins built their nest in the summer under
the eaves of my house, but the young did not leave it until the second week in
October, and one, probably from this brood, was picked up by a neighbour next
day in a dying condition. The parent birds I last saw late in the afternoon of the
30th of October, disputing the possession of the nest with a sparrow. These were
the last of the swallow tribe I saw, but an observing friend tells me that he
observed a pair of Martins on the 12th of November. Is it not probable that their
late stay was due to the inclement weather diminishing their insect-food supply,
and thus retarding the development of the young ? — Henry Mothersole,
Chelmsford, December, 1896.
The Exodus of the Birds.—"This morning an extraordinary occurrence
was witnessed from the south side of the Thames. On the foreshore close by the
Cherry Garden Pier, Bermondsey, about 7 a.m., a large flock of rooks were seen
making their way in a north-westerly direction, followed almost immediately by a
mass of starlings, which in turn were followed by flights of fieldfares, and larks at
like intervals. They continued for nearly half an hour, phalanx succeeding
phalanx in regular military order, without any attempt at intermingling—and
over thirty flocks, each numbering thousands of birds, were counted passing over
during the time. With the exception of the rooks, the other three classes are all
migratory birds, and might possibly form a portion of the countless numbers that