Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/105

Rh the month, the wet evidently suiting them. I found the pair of Kites again attempting to breed in the same locality as last year. On May 23rd they were lining a newly-built nest, situated in the same tree and in the same fork as five years ago. This was evidently the second attempt of the season. An old nest was lined with rolls of sheep's wool. A pair of Buzzards had a nest with a single young one, resting against a shrub of birch on the steep hillside, with scarcely anything of a fall below it. A pair of Ravens, which had three young nearly ready to fly, did not venture within a quarter of a mile of us, their behaviour being thus strikingly different from that of the above-mentioned pair. Pied Flycatchers were breeding freely, often in disused nesting-holes of the Green or Greater Spotted Woodpecker. Examining a number of Jackdaws' nests in the cliff, I found in many cases the whole brood dead, as the result of the cold wet weather at Whitsuntide. In June I heard the note of the Quail in two localities some six miles apart.

On Sept. 7th I noted a pair of Choughs passing over the hill at the northern end of the town. A Black Redstart frequented the College roof for at least a fortnight, basking upon the leads every fine day, and hawking for flies from the lightning-conductors. I last saw it on Nov. 6th. On Nov. 1st Thrushes and Blackbirds on migration were beating against the College windows after dark. Mr. Hutchings showed me a curious light-coloured variety of the Polecat on Dec. 29th, and reported three or four Bitterns obtained during the frost.