Welsh Journals

particularly were so when they robbed a neighbour's cat's dish of bread and milk to feed their young. On 29 May the birds were hard at work apparently trying to make a hole in the trunk some 5 inches below the one they were using. They soon penetrated the bark but the white hardwood beneath was another matter. There seemed no object in this further effort, but by 10 June the birds succeeded in making a small hole through to the hollow in the trunk and the nest itself. The head of a long dead juvenile bird appeared at the new hole and we wondered if in fact all the hard work put in by the adults was their method of removing an unpleasant little corpse from the nest. F. H. ALDERSON FIELDFARES FEEDING ON SLOES? Throughout November and early December 1972 a flock of more than 50 Fieldfares frequented a brake of Blackthorns (Prunus spinosa) in Slate Mill valley, St. Ishmael's-St. Bride's, Pembs. On 1 December they were still present in numbers and some bushes still carried a good crop of sloes, but by 20 December few birds remained. Since they were always seen in the Blackthorn brake it is likely that sloes were their principal food at this time. The valley is a favoured haunt of Redwings and Fieldfares most winters, but that year there were few Redwings and in 1973-74 neither wintered there. T. A. W. D. BULLFINCHES-IN SONG Each year recently I have carried out a transect in June through the Pantymaenog Plantation at Rosebush. The area is Sitka forest with trees up to some 4 to 5 yards in height. I have noted Bullfinches in the Sitka, especially where it was dense, their piping calls readily identifying them. On 30 June, as I moved along my route I heard a subdued song issuing from dense Sitka some 10 yards from me. It seemed to be a sub-song, or at least a very subdued rendering. I could not identify this song at all, neither could I glimpse the very persistent and close songster. The matter was resolved when a Bullfinch gave a series of typical piping notes and flew from the area whence had come the song. The song terminated just prior to the piping and the bird's departure. The song was not in itself in any way impressive: it seemed a jumble of piping and warbling notes and, as says the Handbook, of "creaky quality". What was remarkable was that, at my advanced age, this was the first time that I had heard this portion of the Bullfinch's repertoire. J. W. D. INVERTEBRATES All entomological notes and records and those dealing with any other in- vertebrates should be sent to Mrs. M. J. Morgan, Department of Applied Zoology, University College of North Wales, Bangor. BURNET MOTHS Unlike most moths, which fly at dusk or in darkness, the Burnets fly only in sunshine and their black and red colouring makes them quite con-