BIRD-LIFE ON THE MOORS IN MAY. 



43 



The trout which have been taking freely these last few 

 days, have suddenly changed this morning, and jump and 

 roll over the flies without taking them. Later in the after- 

 noon a severe thunderstorm, with heavy rain, came on. 

 The effect of thunder on trout is curiously uncertain ; but 

 it undoubtedly causes them, in many cases, to cease feeding 

 on the surface. On the 24th I was fishing one of the best 

 streams in Northumberland : the water was in perfect order, 

 brown as porter, and with just enough of flood. Yet the trout 

 took extremely shyly — considering the season, and the per- 

 fect state of the water, quite unaccountably so ; except that 

 all day long there was a frequent, though very distant, 

 rumble of thunder in the air, and this I suppose explained 

 their unusual lethargy. 



VANQUISHED. 



The Pied Flj-catcher should probably be considered rather 

 as a local species than a very rare one in the north of 

 England. Yet, though it has certain nesting haunts both 

 in Durham and Northumberland, I never happened to see it 

 in either county till the year 1885. The first occurrence 

 was at Silksworth, co. Durham — a single adult male on May 

 7th (we had a slight covering of snow on the following day). 

 The Migration Report of the British Association recorded 

 an influx of these at the Spurn about May 5th, coinciding 

 with the above observation. Later in the month I observed 

 at least one pair evidently nesting in the beautiful woods 



