WITH THE BIRDS IN WALES 109 



the nest was quite a fresh one, and normally should 

 have contained young a fortnight old. From the 

 other side of the gorge I could bring the interior of 

 the nest quite close with the aid of glasses. It was 

 lined and quite ready for eggs, but as the Ravens 

 were not about, I knew that it would never come to 

 anything. Here, too, I saw a Long-eared Owl, a 

 rare bird about here, and I noticed that one Missel 

 Thrush, at all events, was still in song. Usually by 

 this date this Thrush has ceased to sing. I cannot 

 think why the Peregrine does not breed in these 

 cliffs, for they are well suited to his requirements, 

 situated as they are by an adjacent Grouse moor. 

 Coming home I climbed an ash-tree containing four 

 Rooks' nests. Two held young about three days 

 old ; another, eggs ; whilst the fourth was not 

 finished. For some time I watched a pair of Linnets 

 building their home in a gorse-bush this side of the 

 A. rocks. 



April i6th. — Again riverwards to watch the King- 

 fishers. I put one off the stump close to the nest, 

 which on examination proved to have been tampered 

 with, for some one had dug it out, and I found 

 fragments of a broken Qgg, so that I fear they will 

 desert this spot, though this species is very tenacious 

 of its nesting site. Whilst soliloquising here I was 

 astonished to hear the well-known cry of the Wry- 

 neck, an exceedingly scarce bird in this part of Wales, 

 and presently I saw the bird itself, as well as a Lesser 

 Spotted Woodpecker. 



The Vicar has found a Pied Wagtail's nest, ready 

 for eggs, under the slates of an outhouse. I went up 



