296 British Bird Calendar. 



British Bird Calendar. 



It is unjenlly requested that Members from all round the coast irill 

 note the ntuveinents of birds, more especiaUi/ in the Southern and Eastern 

 Counties, and regularbj {2Sth of each month) send in their notes — on this the 

 ultimate success and permanent interest of the Calendar will depend — 

 Ei). 



Aug. 2 — I walked five miles along the shore from Cleethorpes in a 

 southerly direction (the gatherings on the east coast of our sum- 

 mer visitors usually commences late in July), and saw many 

 Pied Wagtails (Motacilla raii). Wheatears {Saxicola wnanthe), 

 birds of the year, were in twos and threes all along the sand hills. 

 There were very few Gulls on the shore, as they had not yet left 

 their breeding quarters. An old disused gravel pit, where I have 

 been accustomed to find many Sand Martins' {Cotile nparia) nests 

 was quite deserted; not a solitary Martin could be found. Sand- 

 pipers (7 o£a«<<Js /!//pw/e«CMs) were not numerous, there were how- 

 ever several Redshanks {T. calidris) vnid young Curlews Numenius 

 arquata), the latter were very tame. It has been a good season 

 for ducks; Mallard (^Iwas boscas) and Teal {Nettion crecca) have 

 done very well, and, in cansepuence there was good sport on 

 August 16th the first day of the open season. 



^uiT 29 Willow Wrens {Fhylloscopus trochilus), Whitethroats (St/lvia 



cinerea) and Lesser Whitethroats (<S'. cnrritca) (juite numerous at 

 r.oon : there were three Willow Wrens, four Lesser Wliitethroats 

 and one Whitethroat on my aviaries at one time, and for the past 

 ten days they have been in evidience at all hours of the day, A 

 brood of Spotted Flycatchers {Muscicapa yrisola), reared in the 

 garden, are still here. 



R. S., Cleethorpes, Aug. 29, 1912. 



31 During the past fourteen days theie have been quite large num- 

 bers of Willow Wrens {Fhylloscopus trochilus), and Chiff-chaffs 

 ^F. rufus) to my and neighbouring gardens; both species are with us 

 all the season and nest in and about the various gardens, but there 

 have been large accessions from the open country recently, a sure 

 sign that the time of their departure is getting near at hand, though 

 odd birds linger till quite late in the year. Some have already 

 gone as numbers have been getting smaller the last few days, but 

 today, in spite of almost torrential rain, I observed about a dozen 

 on or about the aviary during a short spell of sunshine. The Pied 

 Wagtail (Motacilla lutjubris) is (luite common at Mitcham, one 

 meets them very frequently when strolling along the roads and 

 lanes at all periods of the year, but it is not till late summer that 

 they become regular or frequent visitors to our gardens, though 

 they are stray visitors all the year. This morning six of them 

 were foraging about on the lawn, delighting us with their grace- 

 ful deportment as we watched them from shelter. 



W.T.P., Mitcham, August 31st, 1913. 



