6 JULY 1901, Page 24

A REDSTART TRAGEDY.

[TO Tee EDITOR OT Till "SPECTATOR:I

Sin,—In a box which I fastened to a Scotch fir about three yards from my dining-room window two redstarts reared a brood this summer. All went well till about a week ago, when seeing one young one out with the parents, who had abandoned their nest, I took the nest. It was empty, but at the side of it, in the box, lay dead a cock sparrow and two young redstarts.—the redstarts evidently having died subse- quently to the sparrow, and being nearly ready for flight before they died. Can any of your readers explain this