Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/95

Rh ence to it then proceeding in the pages of 'The Zoologist.' Little need be added. The song is wonderful for its extraordinary variety, energy, and, if I may so term it, tense elasticity of tone. As the bird babbled volubly with puffed-out bearded throat and half-erected crest, showing its red gape, one could hear in fancy the alarm-notes of Swallow, Blackbird, and of every other bird in the gardens. Early in June the Icterines seemed to become much quieter, singing only a part of their notes, and I thought with less intermixture of harsh and uncouth variations. On July 1st one was singing again in the best of form, but I heard nothing of them after the 6th. Is it not possible that in the recent discussion some writers have described the song of the nearly allied Hypolais polyglotta in place of that of H. icterina?

The Icterine Warbler was not the last of the migrants to arrive. House and Sand Martins did not put in an appearance till the middle of May, and the Red-backed Shrike was still later. Some of the Sand Martins nested in the outlets of small drainpipes along the Rhine wall.

Some twelve miles up the river from Bonn, and nearly opposite to Remagen, a bold volcanic bluff—the Erpeler Lei—overlooks the Rhine. Its face has been quarried and shows basaltic columns, while in the rocks above, towards the summit, a pair of Falcons breed. As I passed, one or other of them would sail out overhead with angry outcry. At the foot of the cliff were sloping screes, frequented by Stonechats, Black Redstarts, and Linnets. Here I heard a song which completely puzzled me. It was short, but bright and cheerful, of about the same length and compass as a Redstart's. The telescope showed a bird the size of a Yellowhammer, the sides of its head boldly streaked with black on a whitish ground, and with cinnamon -coloured under parts. It was evidently a Bunting, but not the Ortolan which I had long looked for, and it was not till I had the opportunity of consulting a book that I identified it as the Meadow Bunting, Emberiza cia. There were probably half a dozen pairs of them about the screes at the foot of the Lei, and they were common about the adjacent vineyard slopes. On June 21st one of them was carrying food in its bill. I watched a male singing for some time as he sat on a rock in négligé Bunting attitude, flipping his tail in Bunting fashion, and raising his head each time to sing; but who would