363
NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
ZOOLOGY.
BIRDS.
Period of Incubation of the Robin.—The following
extract from one of the "Nature Note-Books" kept by the senior
girls of the Leyton County School seems worthy of record, as
little is known of the period of incubation of our common birds.
Miss E. Drayson writes :
" In the garden (Woodford) are several wooden boxes, which are covered
with glass in winter, in order to preserve the plants inside from the frost. In
the spring the glass is removed in the day-time and put on at night. This
spring (1904) an empty one had the glass broken, and a pair of robins built a nest
inside, and laid eggs in it. The eggs were five in number ; the first was laid on
Thursday, April 7th. and the last on the nth, after that the bird sat on them all
day. On the 18th the robins were hatched, but on the 24th the cats got at them
and killed all the young birds."
A series of observations of this character, with particulars of
the weather during the time, would help to fill the gap which
exists at present in our ornithological knowledge.—T. Petch,
Leytonstone.
Protection of Birds in Essex.—The work and successes
of the Essex Bird Society have been frequently brought before
the readers of the Essex Naturalist, and the progress made in
1903 was admirably summarised by the Hon. Secretary, Mr.
Francis Dent, in his paper ante pp. 194-6. The recently-published
Report for 1904 now lies before us, from which it appears that
the shore-breeding species, especially the Black-headed Gull and
the Terns, are steadily increasing in numbers. In both the
Harwich stations, it is reported that the breeding has been good
the ducks and plovers throve well, and there has been an increase
in coots, "sea gulls," and kittiwakes. At St. Osyth there
were more gulls breeding on the marshes, and more terns were
seen than for two or three years past. A good season for
plovers and coots is reported there. Free breeding is also
noted at Brightlingsea, West Mersea, Tollesbury, and Burnham.
The St. Osyth watcher writes :—"I think that the Protection
Order has done good. It would be better and less confusing if
we had one close time for the East Coast instead of two different
dates for Essex and Suffolk." From Epping Forest and the
adjoining estates under Mr. E. N. Buxton's "League" (see