Majorcan Birds It is a curious coincidence that immediately after
writing the above paragraph I received the summer number of the R.S.P.B. ; and in the first article dealing with the birds of Spanish countries, especially Majorca, Mr. Charles Alford writes : " The most heart-breaking sight of all are the partridges. These wretched birds which are used as decoys . . . are confined, each in a separate cage, which is a cage so small that literally fits the bird ; and one wonders how it can possibly manage to turn round or even to peck its food." He found that robins—especially robins—and thrushes were killed in large quantities for food. My own experience of birds in Majorca differs from Mr. Alford's in one or two details. The hoopoe was very common indeed at the end of February and the bird that I saw most of, though it is not mentioned in his list, was the " thick knee," or stone curlew.
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