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Notes. Unusual Call of Carrion Crow

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Notes. Unusual Call of Carrion Crow (322) NOTES. UNUSUAL CALL OF CARRION CROW. IN reference to Mr. Mayo's note (trntea, vol. xliii, p. 368), the call he mentions, which he aptly likens to the sound of a distant machine- gun or the drumming of a woodpecker, is regularly used by Carrion Crows (Corvus corone) in parts of Surrey and Middlesex and doubt• less elsewhere as well. In the versions I have heard, this note has the same mechanical quality as the clicking notes of the female Jay (Garrulus glandarius) and it is uttered in the same posture as the Jay uses (vide, ante a, vol. xlii, pp. 278-285). This note is heard usually at excited gatherings involving not fewer than two pairs of Carrion Crows. Whether this note is used only by the female I cannot say, but I strongly suspect so, as on occasions when four Crows have been involved I have never seen more than two of them utter this note. Sometimes this note is uttered in flight and in this case the same posturing is used as when perched, which suggests that this arching of the back, and forward and downward reaching of the head is to be considered primarily as necessary for producing the note and only secondarily as a display. This note, or one essentially similar, I have heard from a Rook {Corvus frugilegus) in Yorkshire and also from Hooded Crows (C. comix) in Egypt, but foolishly I did not write down any details at the time. Some years before the war a captive Hooded Crow in Chessington Zoo, responded to my talking to it by giving these notes with appropriate posturings just as a tame female Jay will often do. Almost certainly this note can be considered as essentially the same as that of the female Jay and probably is, like it, indicative of excitement containing some element of sexual feeling or sexual jealousy. Possibly this call was evolved prior to the speciation of the Corvidae as it appears homologous with the " hiccupping " note of the Florida Jay (Aphelocoma ccerulescens) as described by Amadon {American Museum Novitates, No. 1252, Jan. 24, 1944) in every respect except that this bird points its bill upwards and not downwards when uttering its " hiccup " call. DEREK GOODWIN. [We have received a note on the same subject from Mr. C. J. O. Harrison, who refers to a " long-drawn, hollow, rolling or rattling croak, low in pitch." He states that he has heard this note from a flock of Carrion Crows in the presence of a Sparrow-Hawk (Accipiter nisus), from a pair mobbing a Sparrow-Hawk, and from a bird swooping to avoid attack by a Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). From these circumstances he judges that this must be the " short, rattling note of aggression " (Handbook). Mr. Goodwin informs us that he believes this note to be quite distinct from the one described by Mr. Mayo, and he shows above that the latter is made in quite different circumstances.—EDS. ] VOL. xxiv.] NOTES. 323 CARRION CROW TAKING FISH. ON May 14th, 1950, while Mrs. E. F. Tate and I were watching by the river Coquet near Warkworth, Northumberland, we saw a Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) alight in a shallow, gravelly rapid, catch a small fish which it ate, and fly off! Shortly afterwards it returned to the same spot and very easily and rapidly caught two more, probably about two inches long. It again flew off and this time I noticed its distended throat pouch so it was evidently taking these, and no doubt others previously caught, to its nest to feed its mate or young. We went to the spot which was only some 20 yards away and in a pool adjoining the rapid there were many dozens of trout of various sizes. It was almost certainly this species which the bird took. It returned again while we were looking at the fish and, needless to say, on seeing us it sheered off. Previous references to Carrion Crows taking fish (antea vol. xl, pp. 158 and 245 ; xli, pp. 95 and 278) have all concerned a bird's capturing a fish from the surface of the water while in flight. H. TULLY. SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS HOVERING OVER GRASS. ON July 3rd, 1950, at 12.00, while passing a small piece of grassland surrounded by trees, at Minehead, Somerset, I noticed a pair of Spotted Flycatchers (Muscicapa striata) hovering some 2 feet above the grass, which was about 4 inches high, with weeds up to 15 inches. There had been heavy rain that morning after a prolonged drought, and, no doubt, flies and insects had come down for shelter, although when I examined the grass afterwards I was unable to find any very special attraction. A fair breeze was blowing and both birds keeping head on to the wind maintained a wonderfully steady wing-beat. Every 15 or 20 seconds one or other of them would drop down into the herbage, stay a second or two, and then commence to hover again. Their tails were slightly depressed, and the whole performance was so perfect that it reminded one of midget Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus). The Handbook makes no mention of hovering by this species. A. V. CORNISH. [Lt.-Col. B. H. Ryves informs us that he has frequently seen the type of hovering described by Mr. Cornish, and has also seen hovering at a height of 50 or 60 feet. He states that occasionally the male will hover before the nest to feed the sitting female, though the normal practice is to alight on the rim of the nest.—EDS.] SPOTTED FLYCATCHER BUILDING IN GREENFINCH'S NEST IN TWO SUCCESSIVE YEARS. A record of Greenfinches (Chloris Moris) using the previous year's nest has been published (antea, vol. xlii, p. 327). I have notes of a somewhat similar case. In 1946 a pair of Greenfinches nested nearly at the tip of a horizontal branch of a large cedar near Llanymynech, Montgomeryshire. The nest was about 20 feet from the trunk and less than five feet from the ground. After the young had flown the 324 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XLIV. nest was occupied by Spotted Flycatchers (Muscicapa striata), but raided by a natural enemy, I think a grey squirrel, before the young left. In 1947 Greenfinches again occupied the site but I do not know if any of the original nest was still there. They again reared a brood and after that the flycatchers occupied the nest once more. Once more they were raided, again I think by a grey squirrel. I cannot say whether the same Greenfinch laid the eggs each year, but I feel quite certain it was the same flycatcher as the eggs were rather distinctive. J J. H. OWEN. NIGHTJARS MOBBING OWLS. DURING the summer of 1949 I had under observation in Darenth Wood, Kent, ten breeding pairs of Nightjars (Caprimulgus europcsus) on which I kept detailed notes. On one occasion—22.30, June 21st—I was somewhat surprised to see a pair of Nightjars chase and mob a Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) which had chanced to cross their territory. The attack lasted for about half a minute accompanied by much wing-clapping and excited " co-ics " from the Nightjars. After a number of pairs had eggs they tended to be even more aggressive towards the two species of owl present in the locality. A Little Owl (Athene noctua) happened to fly close by a " churring " male at 2.45 on June 27th. The Nightjar immediately gave chase in the manner previously described and both birds disappeared from view, both calling loudly for two minutes. I have a record—June 23rd, 1949—of a pair of Nightjars chasing a bat (species uncertain) which passed by a nest. It was pursued for a considerable distance, but the birds did not appear in the least excited as when mobbing owls. Woodcocks (Scolopax rusticola) were present in Darenth Wood in 1949, and although they occupied the same area as the Nightjars there was no recorded interference. D. F. OWEN. GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER PERCHING ON LOW BUSH. THE habit of the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) perching crosswise on small branches is well known, but the practice of settling on a low bush is perhaps less usual. Whilst I was walking through some rough ground beside Dunwich Marsh on May 28th, 1950, a bird of this species, previously heard calling, was put up from the ground and flew only a few yards to settle on the top of a low bramble bush. A. H. BETTS. [In 1937 I saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker perch on the very top of a hawthorn, from which position it called repeatedly. I have never before or since seen one perch in this way, but the habit may be much commoner than my experience leads me to suppose.— A.W.B.] " FLYCATCHING " OF GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. ON May 28th, 1950, whilst walking along the River Greet, near VOL. XLIV.] NOTES. 325 Southwell, Notts, I observed a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendro- copus major) catching flies in the manner of a flycatcher. The bird flew from a tree on the outskirts of a wood, caught a fly in his beak and returned to the same tree. This was repeated ceaselessly for about seven minutes, at the end of which his beak was crammed full of insects, believed to be mayflies. The bird had a nest in the wood. J H. ACKROYD. RED-NECKED PHALAROPE IN LANCASHIRE. ON July 5th, 1947, a Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus) was seen by H. Shorrock and myself on a pond at a sewage farm situated on the north bank of the River Ribble near Freckleton, Lancashire.
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