Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/167

Rh the bay. Dr. Dobie told me he heard a Grasshopper-Warbler near Llanbedrog on the night of the 18th. I saw a Grey Wagtail about the stream which runs through Aberdaron, which is, I suppose, as far west in Carnarvonshire as the bird would be met with in summer. It is only the second time I have met with it in Lleyn. Stonechats were common; but I saw no Whinchats this year. Corn-Crakes were not quite so common as in the previous year. The Blackbird is certainly remarkably abundant in Lleyn, far more so than the Song-Thrush. I saw Mistle-Thrushes several times, and heard one singing as late as the 22nd. Robins are tiresomely abundant in a place where you think it your duty to put the glass on almost every small bird you see. Possibly they do not migrate in autumn from this mild land, and so do not suffer any losses on passage; and of course there is no hard weather to cut them off in the winter. I saw Goldfinches again, and Spotted Flycatchers several times. Unfortunately when I revisited the spot where I had found the Cirl-Bunting the year before the rain was coming down heavily, and though I lingered about for half an hour, I saw and heard nothing of it. One evening as I was walking along Penrhyn Du, brilliantly lighted up with cushions of gorse, blooming as it never blooms in bleak Oxfordshire, I saw a beautiful adult male Merlin flying along the slope just above the sea, and not far below me. As this cliff is many miles from where I saw one the previous year, the Merlin may be not very uncommon. I was glad to see Choughs (four pairs) in their old haunts. Two pairs walking about on a steep grassy slope, varied by gorse and heather, made up a picture to delight the eye of a naturalist. In the bright sunshine the glossy purple-black of their plumage and their red beaks showed up well against the green background. They were feeding and occasionally preening their feathers. Choughs are very affectionate birds. The individuals of the respective pairs kept close together, and I saw one pair fondling one another with their bills. Every now and then one would call "k'chare"—a short note. When feeding they pecked quickly at something among the grass, apparently picking up insects; or they poked their bills into the ground or tufts of herbage. Several times while I watched them, one flew up and perched on a low wall separating the cliff from the fields, called "k'chare," and looked about it;