Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/39

Rh appeared to be rather warmly coloured, but this may have been caused by the contrast with the sad colour of their surroundings, caused by the severe drought then prevailing, which told terribly on the shallow soil of this outlying spot.

The most noticeable land-birds were the Corn-Bunting, Blackbird, Starling, Corn-Crake, and Jackdaw. There are some common birds found in Lleyn which I could not find on Bardsey; and, as the birds there are rather tame and conspicuous, it is not likely that I should overlook them if they were to be found on the island at all commonly. The Robin and Stonechat, both common on the adjoining part of the mainland, are among them. Both may have been temporarily exterminated by the long continuance of heavy storms from the sea which battered Lleyn in the previous winter. I think if there had been any Sky-Larks on the island they would surely have been singing over the fields at five o'clock on a fine May morning. I saw no Swifts or Yellow Buntings; I may have overlooked the Wren. I saw thirty-nine (or forty) species of birds in all, and the list, although doubtless incomplete, may be worth printing, as it gives, at all events, a fair idea of the bird-life of this outlying bit of North Wales.

1. (Turdus merula).—Very common, conspicuous, and tame. For want of a better place, the males sang from the top of the stone gate-posts, and from big stones.

2. (Saxicola œnanthe).—Fairly common.

3. (Sylvia cinerea).—Fairly numerous about the taller gorse.

4. (Phylloscopus trochilus).—A few about the lowlying parts.

5. (Acrocephalus phragmitis).—One or two about the willow-beds.

6. (Accentor modularis).—Pretty common in the lower parts; carrying food.

7. (Anthus pratensis).—Some about the mountain and lower pastures.

8. (A. obscurus).—Fairly common.

9. (Muscicapa grisola).—Several about the farm-gardens.

10. (Hirundo rustica).—A good many.