Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/514

484 The majority of them were in very good plumage, but there were a few not long out of the nest. They would allow you to get quite close to them without showing any sign of fear; as a rule, my experience is rather the opposite in England. The earliest date I have seen them in these parts is March 27th. I could not find any Meadow Pipits' nests, although I have watched old birds with their bills full of insects, evidently waiting to feed their young. There were a few young about; and these, as well as the old birds, seem to me to be darker than they are in other places. In a few cases they had begun to flock, but not more than a dozen were together, and always on the grassy slopes at the edge of the cliffs. Stonechats were common enough, and the young, though fully fledged, were still being fed by the old birds. Some of the old males were in very fine plumage, but the majority were not. A few Ring-Ouzels were to be seen, generally on the face of the cliffs covered with vegetation, the only other inhabitants of which were Wrens; and they always seem plentiful in the wildest and most inaccessible parts of the cliffs.

Of Wagtails, Pied were common, but Grey not very. I only saw a few solitary ones, and the fact of these being single is curious, as I have almost invariably found them in pairs in autumn and winter.

Twites were generally in flocks of from five to twenty, feeding on seeds of various plants. I saw one Cuckoo, evidently a young bird. Swallows were beginning to flock, but Sand Martins were still breeding; in most cases the young were fully fledged, but I found one nest with eggs hard-set—this was on the 17th of the month. A few Swifts were flying about the top of one of the mountains, two thousand feet high—that was the only place I saw them; it was on the 11th of the month.

On the 23rd Flycatchers and Whitethroats were still about, and on the 29th I heard a Chiffchaff; these were the only two Warblers that I noticed. Curlews were more plentiful than they have been for some years, and were in fairly big flocks. Oystercatchers were also flocking; I counted one hundred and fifty in one flock. A few Sanderlings and Dunlins were about towards the end of the month, but only in very small flocks of four or five.

There is a point in connection with the song of birds which I have not seen mentioned, although it must have been noticed by