A DEATH CHAMBER.
• In a neighbour's garden stood a large sycamore some
one hundred and fifty years old. The top was blown off in a gale two years ago and a round hole, such as a woodpecker might have made, was disclosed at the top of the trunk just below the dividing place of the boughs. A rod was thrust down, but failed to reach the bottom of the cavity, which apparently widened out bottle-like. The tree was then cut down reluctantly, for fear of another fall. A little later, on splitting -the logs, the skeletons, all clean and polished, of about forty starlings were found at the bottom of the hole which was one and a half feet in diameter and eight feet deep. It was a sad fate. Birds as a rule are peculiarly skilful in clambering and fluttering up from a hollow, as you may see when young tits in a deep hollow first leave the nest. The unhappy starlings must have been trapped by the peculiar slope of the chamber. It is curious that there was no sign of a recent victim.
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