17 FEBRUARY 1933, Page 13

The starling roosts, of which a census is being taken

at -Cambridge, are being most thoroughly plotted. Young observers—in Hertfordshire, e.g.—have made complete charts of all the roosts within a wide district. A part of the organization is in the hands of Mr. Nicholson, who, among many other titles to fame, earned it by his census of herons ; a really marvellous record. He is paying especial attention to London, and as evidence how accurately even large flocks of birds may be reckoned his estimate of the numbers roosting on some London buildings coincides with singular exactness with records sent me—and published some weeks ago in The Spectator—by a leader of Rover scouts.