Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/473

Rh was strewn with broken twigs and torn leaves and catkins that the birds had dropped in their orgie.

Of the Tits, the Blue was undoubtedly the most abundant, though the Great Tit was by no means rare. We saw Coal-Tits feeding young in three different places, but the bird was not common, and we did not meet with either the Marsh or the Long-tailed Tit. The Creeper has the reputation of being a shy singer, and when the trees are in leaf is easily overlooked; but, from the number of times on which we heard the song in many different localities, the bird must be very plentiful. The Tree-Pipit, like the Redstart, was unaccountably rare; we saw a pair in a wood at Holland Arms, heard three or four in song between Llanfair and Menai, and one at Llangoed, but none elsewhere. The Chaffinch and Greenfinch swarmed in the woods and in the cultivated district beyond; the Bullfinch was fairly numerous, but we only met with the Goldfinch in one locality—near Menai Bridge, where a pair frequented an orchard. In this part of Anglesea the Jay and Magpie, if they occur at all, must be very rare, for we did not meet with either species.

The neighbourhood of the old Priory at Penmon, in the extreme east of the island, proved to be an exceedingly interesting district. Just behind the ruins of the Priory is a little dell, where many ancient ashes, alders, thorns, and elders, together with the Spanish chestnuts and walnuts in the Priory grounds, provide shelter for numerous birds. In the tree-tops was a small colony of Rooks, while the hollow limbs of the older trees were tenanted by Jackdaws and Tawny Owls. In mid-May the latter bird was much in evidence, enlivening the night with its musical call; but during a second visit—in the first week of June—it was silent. We did not come across the Tawny Owl elsewhere, nor did we personally observe the Barn-Owl, but a quarryman at Penmon had a stuffed example which had been captured in a disused boiler a few months before. The Green Woodpecker, which we only met with sparingly in the larger woods, was astoundingly abundant in the neighbourhood of Penmon. The rotten timber of the old trees was riddled with nesting-holes, and even the smaller branches were pitted with the bird's borings. The Woodpeckers were not restricted to this isolated clump of trees where they nested; we used frequently to