Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/302

274 peninsula of Italy; while during the autumnal migration its flight is directed eastward to India, which forms its winter quarters. It is enough to excite one's wonder that individuals should be found in this country (and the same may be said of Heligoland) in November, separated as they then are from their rightful home by almost the whole length of Europe and half that of Asia. A short notice of this occurrence may be seen in the second volume of Dr. Butler's 'British Birds,' p. 192 (Addenda).— (St. Leonards-on-Sea).

Nesting of the Grey Wagtail in Lincolnshire.—I have been delighted in watching a pair of Grey Wagtails, Motacilla melanope, Pallas, which, mirabile dictu, have actually brought off a brood within three feet of my library window. The nest, the exterior of which is composed of fine grasses and roots, and lined with cow-hair, is five feet from the ground, in the wall-ivy. It was commenced the second week in March; I dare not look too closely to ascertain when the first egg was laid. The female commenced sitting about April 25th. The young were hatched on May 9th, on which day both the parents commenced feeding them with insects and their larvæ. These Wagtails were first seen on Nov. 10th, and have kept about the premises ever since. There are several spring-heads and water-courses which they haunt, but none very near the house. It has been a daily pleasure to watch these elegant and chastely coloured little creatures, so suggestive of a north-country beck, running here and there on the lawn, sometimes on the window-sill, or perched on a window-box or the scraper of the side door. When I found they really intended nesting precautions were taken to prevent them being disturbed, and since the female commenced to sit six worthless stray cats have disappeared without subsequent enquiries as to their whereabouts. I was pleased (May 22nd) when the young birds (I think four of them) left the nest, and strong enough to fly to the house-roof and into an old beech-tree on the lawn. The old birds used alternately to bring insects to the nest almost regularly every five minutes, commencing, to my knowledge, at 4 a.m. and to 7.30 p.m. This is the first occasion on which the Grey Wagtail has been recorded nesting in Lincolnshire, and, as far as I am aware, in Eastern England south of the Humber. It is, however, a most regular winter visitant.— (Great Cotes House, R.S.O., Lincoln).

Arrival of Summer Migrants in Gloucestershire.—The following is a list of some of our summer migrants, with the dates upon which I first observed them in Gloucestershire (near Cheltenham):—Chiffchaff, March 25th; Willow Wren, April 11th; Redstart, April 14th; Whitethroat, April 13th; Swallow, April 13th; House Martin, April 14th; Blackcap, April 16th; Lesser Whitethroat, April 18th; Cuckoo, April 19th; Sand