Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/489

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On the 4th the Common Gulls left suddenly and for good, save for one short visit, which lasted only a few hours, on the morning of the 25th, when five or six were wheeling at a great height above water-meads. The Pied Wagtails are diminished in numbers; the Grey Wagtails are only occasionally seen during the middle of the month. On the 9th there were seven or eight Dabchicks on the Itchen near the College and another party further down by Shawford. On the 20th the first inward migration of Peewits began, a company of fifty or so flying west in a long line on that date, and another on the 25th. On the 2nd a Brent Goose was shot at Medstead, and on the 15th I saw three Geese, which I suspected to be Brent, flying at a considerable height over water-meads. On the 18th a Great Spotted Woodpecker was shot at Sparsholt and sent to Mr. Chalkley to be set up. On the 23rd the Rooks first began to collect twigs for repairing their nests; they were very quarrelsome, and one bird was killed in a scuffle and fell down dying into meads. On the 24th I saw a company of about two hundred Wood Pigeons in a ploughed field bordering a wood at Whitchurch. Both species of Wagtail decreased steadily in numbers as the month progressed; during the whole winter neither species has been so numerous as as in former years. Mr. Kelsall writes from the New Forest, "A pair of Wheatears, Feb. 27th." This is the earliest record I know.

On the 1st a few Common Gulls came with a strong south wind to stay for a few hours in the morning, on the 4th and 6th; one Gull stayed through the greater part of the morning. On the 22nd Peewits were in abundance on Twyford Downs, probably with nests; in fact, on the 21st, several clutches were found in a ploughed field to the north of this spot. It is very curious how persistently this bird is persecuted and with what persistence it propagates its kind so successfully. On the 22nd I saw the Wheatear, male, for the first time this year, in water-meads. On the 24th a solitary Herring Gull was battling with a strong south wind above St. Catherine's Hill. The Dabchicks leave us about now, and are never seen so high up the river during the rest of the year. This fact applies to all our winter visitants in the