Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 4 (1846).djvu/382

1548 April 12th. A few willow-wrens were seen this morning for the first time, appa- rently very shy and disinclined to show themselves ; as the day advanced they increased in numbers.

April 13th. Tree Pipit.

14th. A single swallow was seen to day. They did not appear in any num- ber until the 20th. Wood Wren.

April 17th. Redstart, Blackcap Warbler, Meadow Pipit.

18th. Cuckoo heard. A party of sand martins appeared on the Dane for the first time.

April 19th. Common Whitethroat. 21st. Sedge Warbler, Swift.

53rd23rd? [sic]. House Martin.

28th. Landrail heard.

30th. European goatsucker.

The winter was so unusually mild, that partridges were hatching at the end of Fe- bruary. A number of yellow wagtails also remained with us throughout the winter. The jack snipe (Scolopax gallinula), constantly stays with us in considerable num- bers during the summer, and breeds in a morass in the adjoining parish of Brereton. At this place, in bygone days, was to be found an unusually choice assemblage of rare wa- ter birds, but the system of drainage which has been so extensively carried on, to the great advantage, no doubt, of the agriculturist, but to the equal detriment of the natu- ralist, has caused a considerable diminution both in the number and varieties of the aquatic birds, for which the numerous meres and pools with which this county is stud- ded were formerly such a favourite resort.

A few words on the subject of partial migration, to which the attention of contribu- tors has been so earnestly requested by our Editor. The goldfinches principally leave us for the winter, a fact which Mr. Newman has recorded as taking place in Hereford- shire. Another fact I must here mention, which, although perhaps not coming strictly under the head of partial migration, has still some connexion with it, and is, if pos- sible, of a more interesting character. The mountain finch (Fringilla montifringilla), which used to be, within a few years past, very common in this neighbourhood, has now almost forsaken us, and from being one of our commonest, may be considered one of our rarest birds. Similar apparent acts of caprice on the part of birds have been often recorded. Wilson, for instance, in his 'American Ornithology,' relates that a bird of the snipe kind, which he calls, from its cry, the Pill-will-willet, "generally begins to lay about the 20th of May, which is said from some unknown cause to be two weeks later than it was twenty years ago." For such occurrences there exists, no doubt, some good reason, though inscrutable to us. 1 have sometimes fancied that I could detect a migration of the hen chaffinches, as suggested by White of Selborne. In the winter when the Fringillida; are gregarious and feed in immense flocks on the stubbles, a good opportunity has presented itself for observing the comparative rarity or frequency of the two sexes of this species, and there has generally appeared to me on such occa- sions, a preponderance in the number of males.—T.W. Barlow; Holmes Chapel, Cheshire.

Dates of arrival of Summer Visitants at Stowmarket. — The following are notes I have made, upon the first appearance in this neighbourhood of some of our summer visitants. Two or three of the dates were recorded by a friend in the neighbourhood, the others were the result of my own observations.