Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/60

34 have caused the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals to agitate for the amelioration of his lot.—J.E. Harting.

Winter Notes from Winchester Water-meads.—September.—The Peewits are gathering together now into large flocks, and are always flying south by easy stages. On the 29th I came across a company of 500 or so that had settled in a ploughed field, and was feeding in a dense mass and chattering. I noticed in this case that a few individuals had separated from the main body, and appeared to be acting as signals to any stragglers that happened to be in the neighbourhood by flying, apparently aimlessly, at a considerable height, and never straying far from their companions. On this date I disturbed a Green Woodpecker from a small copse on the roadside. We have not been visited yet by any Gulls; the weather has been clear and fine for the most part.

October.—The first Gulls (Larus canus) arrived on the 7th, in a violent storm of rain and wind, between 12 and 1 o'clock. They left us the next day. I have noticed that these birds utter their sharp cries only when in the act of arriving or departing, but when they are sailing leisurely over the river here they are quite silent. The Sand Martins are collected in large quantities by the end of October, and leave us, save for a few stragglers, by the first week in November. On the 9th there were some birdcatchers in water-meads, who had committed considerable havoc among the Goldfinches, which are numerous here. A fine cock-bird was ensnared as I passed. They had caught a Sparrowhawk, which had flown down into their nets after the decoy-bird. The place which they had chosen for their unlawful sport was entirely public, but the men were not in the least disconcerted. On this date two solitary Peewits passed over, flying south. On the 13th there were five Herring Gulls wheeling at a great height on the other side of St. Catherine's Hill. On the 28th, during a journey to Oxford, I noticed a large flight of Peewits and numerous Fieldfares in the water-meads on the north side of Winchester. The Gulls have not arrived permanently yet.

November.—On the 1st a solitary Gull passed over College, flying inland (west). The Jackdaws and Starlings, which nest in the loosened stones of the College chapel, can be seen together with numerous Rooks in water-meads. On the 6th the Pied Wagtails arrived in numbers, and one bird frequents the College buildings. On the 17th a flock of thirty Gulls arrived, and these birds have stayed all through the winter, their numbers sometimes being increased by new-comers, and sometimes reduced by absentees. On the 22nd two large flights passed over, and finally took a southward course. A Herring Gull visited his congeners in water-meads,