44 The Field Naturalist'' s Quarterly Feb. 



upper breast, with a white collar on either side of the black ; 

 white neck and sides of head, dark grey back, grey wings 

 (with very pronounced white at the edges), whitish under 

 the breast. 



19^/t. — Very heavy snowstorms. Birds mostly silent all 

 day. 



2.0th. — Saw a goldfinch on a thistle-head. 



24^/j. — Found song thrush's nest with two eggs. This 

 bird was singing at 7 p.m. Saw a hawfinch which had been 

 picked up on a railway bank, killed by telegraph wires. 



2.^th. — Blinding snowstorm, but blackbird singing in spite 

 of same. 



3is^. — Bright and warm. Cuckoo pint becoming promin- 

 ent. Buntings paired. Elder and honeysuckle quite green ; 

 cowslips appearing. Watched the rooks dibbing and eating 

 worms, the satisfactory gobble being very interesting to 

 watch. 



March 1901 was notorious for the changeable character 

 of the weather. We had summer heat and blinding snow- 

 storms ; cold, dry, cutting winds ; blinding snow in brilliant 

 sunshine ; soft summer weather ; rain, hail, and sleet ! 

 Throughout all this the skylark never ceased to sing. On 

 most days, too, the blackbird, robin, chaffinch, hedge- 

 sparrow, missel and song thrushes, have all been singing 

 gaily. 



Note. — These observations refer to the district of St 

 Albans, Herts, unless otherwise stated. 



( To be continued in our next.) 



The Fauna of New Zealand. 



By Apteryx. 



Oceanic islands very frequently possess a fauna peculiar to 

 themselves, and New Zealand is a striking example of this. 

 The geographical distribution of animals depends mainly 

 on two factors — viz., {a) causes tending to restrain species 



