NATURAL HISTOEY NOTES. 63 



but even to be touched, remaining all the while perfectly 



motionless. 



Claud F. Druitt. 



n'ote on the nightjar 

 {Caprimulgus Europseus) . 

 I was much interested on May 18th to find a nightjar 

 resting on a rock at Cadbury Camp, on which he has rested 

 now, during the daytime, for three summers. I saw him 

 there several times last year, and took friends to see him. 

 His plumage adapts itself very well to the rock, and the 



bird is quite hard to see at first. 



Herbert C. Playne. 



N'OTE ON THE SpRING MIGRATION OF 1896. 



The spring migration has been, I think, instructive this 

 year. A wave of cold passed westwards over central Europe 

 about the equinox, and its effects on the "passage" were 

 interesting. 



The four species which come earliest to our shores — the 

 wheatear, chiff chaff, w^illow wren, and blackcap — were here 

 unusually early, by the 25th of March, — that is before the 

 cold wave had proceeded far. Doubtless many of their kin 

 were detained, but still they were here in fair numbers and 

 in good condition, judging from the way they set about 

 singing at once, by that date. Then came a long interval 

 during which no more arrivals appeared. Finally, however, 

 several days late, the rest of the migrants appeared. The 

 cold wave was travelling westward, from newspaper accounts. 

 Consequently the eastern route across the Continent from 

 Asia Minor was opened soonest, and the nightingale — a 

 truly eastern route traveller — came quite punctually, and 

 began nesting earlier even than usual. The most unpunctual 

 arrivals were certainly the corncrakes and the spotted fly- 



