Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/298

266 first had been heard on May 4th, 1897. By walking quietly forwards a clear view was obtained of two of the birds perched on a small bush that was still bare of foliage, and as far as it was possible to be certain without having them actually in hand, Hypolais polyylotta, the Melodious Warbler, was satisfactorily identified. The morning of May 9th another visit was paid to the wooded undercliff. It was warm and summer-like after a night of rain, just the time for Warblers to be in full song; and as the result of a two hours' ramble at least a dozen of these little Warblers were recognized. In one beautiful glen, carpeted with bluebells and ground-ivy, five Melodious Warblers and a Nightingale were singing close round me, and as I stood listening to them another Melodious Warbler flew into a bush at my elbow, and commenced its song. The presence of so many of the birds makes it conclusive that those heard last year successfully nested; Hypolais polyglotta may now be regarded to have established itself as a summer migrant to this extreme south-east corner of Devon. It was impossible to avoid reflecting that, as so many of these Warblers had been detected in a comparatively small portion of the wooded undercliff, there were probably many others in the long stretch of similar cover between Ware and Axmouth; and that possibly the shrubberies of the old-fashioned country houses that skirt the little town of Lyme were tenanted by others. Last year the loud clear notes of the two Warblers then heard induced the belief that they were the Icterine Warbler (Hypolais icterina); no close view of them was obtained; one seen flying across a little glade was too distant for its plumage to be ascertained. The thickness of the cover—it is a jungle of big whitethorns, brambles, &c.—will afford the birds protection; there is little fear that they will suffer from the raids of egg-collectors.— (Vicarage, Buckland Dinham, Frome).

Meadow Pipits perching on Trees.—I can quite confirm Mr. Coburn's note as to the arboreal habits of the Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis). The bird is exceedingly common in this district in summer, and also passes through in great numbers at the periods of migration. In my experience the Meadow Pipit, when flushed, usually perches on a tree or bush if one is at hand. I have frequently seen migratory flocks of thirty or forty birds perching together on the tops of alder trees on a neighbouring marsh.— (Penrhyndeudraeth, Merionethshire, North Wales).

"Horse-match," a Name for the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio).—I notice (ante, p. 188) Mr. O.V. Aplin has written a very interesting note on this curious local name. It will no doubt interest him to know that in the course of my preparation for my shortly forthcoming book on the 'Birds of Surrey' I have come across this term applied to the same species in a series of hitherto unpublished notes by the late Mr. H. Long,