ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM A SOUTH LONDON SUBURB. 
to the end of the month. I have four notes of late appear- 
ances in September, viz.:—1881, four passed S.W. on the roth; 
in 1902, one, on the 4th; in 1903, two hawking over Dulwich 
Lake, on the 2nd; and in 1905, one seen on the 8th, this last 
travelling S.E. On August Ist, 1893, an extraordinary 
assemblage of 150 or more hawked over my garden for about 
an hour, the attraction being evidently the winged ants that 
were in flight that afternoon; the Swifts eventually drifted 
away slowly to the S.E. 
WRYNECK (Doubtful Resident). 
Has very seldom been heard in Brixton itself—only about 
twice in 30 years, and although I hear the bird every spring in 
the Dulwich neighbourhood—usually Cox’s Walk—I doubt if 
it remains to breed in the district. My chief reason for this 
opinion is that I have rarely heard the bird calling after April. 
However, it very probably nested in 1904, for in that year I 
heard the note as late as the 25th May. My impression is 
that, as a visitor to this country generally, it is a much scarcer 
species than 40 to 50 years ago, but at that time I was in touch 
with the Kentish orchards, in which the bird finds the trees 
it most favours in abundance. 
CUCKOO (Resident). 
This is, I think, quite as plentiful—in the Dulwich dis- 
trict, at any rate—as when I began these notes. The parks 
and woods still attract the birds, though in very variable num- 
bers; some years being remarkable for their abundance as 
others are for the scarcity of the species. April 14th is the 
earliest note of “call,’ and June 15th the latest. Until the 
last few years the appearance in our gardens of migrants on 
the eve of departure was a regular event. From the third 
week in July to the last week in August, one or more were 
generally to be seen hunting the lime trees for the buff-tip 
and other caterpillars, and not infrequently visiting my grass 
plot in search of worms and grubs; about four-fifths of these 
autumn visitors being birds of the year. The latest old bird 
noted was on the 16th August, whilst the immature have often 
been seen in September; in 1900, as late as the 18th. I have 
four notes of unusual examples seen in my garden—in 1891 
an interesting bird in partly grey plumage visited me Septem- 
ber oth; in 1894 a grey bird, with the brown head and white 
nuchal patch of the immature plumage, on August 18th; and 
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