FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 271 



titlark's nest with two cuckoo's eggs inside it. Again, the 

 Rev. H. L. Wright, Rector of Church Knowle, informed me, 

 at the time, that he was assured by two neighbours that they 

 heard the note of a cuckoo between Corfe Castle and Church 

 Knowle on January 28th last, and, in view of the evidence 

 given above and below, there seems no reason for 

 doubting their statements. These January observations 

 were not brought to the notice of the editor of " The Country- 

 side," but, on pp. 324-325 of the issue of that magazine for 

 May 8th last, he wrote as follows : ' Glancing over these 

 (i.e., the records received from readers concerning spring 

 migrants. E. R. B.) for the months of February and March, 

 for instance, I see that the cuckoo was reported from Dorset as 

 early as February 6th ; but in referring to the Nature map 

 for February, 1908, readers will find a still earlier record, 

 namely, at Winchester, Hants, on February 4th. During 

 February and March, 1909, it was reported by trustworthy 

 correspondents from the counties of Dorset, Wilts, Sussex, 

 Cornwall, and Surrey. All these, it will be noted, are southern 

 counties.' It is particularly interesting to learn from Mr. 

 James Day's note that the cuckoo is again trying the experi- 

 ment of spending the winter in this district." (E. R. B.) 



WOOD PIGEON (Columba palumbus, L.). The scarcity of 

 wood pigeons in the neighbourhood of Corfe Castle during the 

 winter of 1909-1910 has been most remarkable, and, in my 

 experience, quite unparalleled. These birds breed annually 

 in considerable numbers in the many fir woods scattered over 

 the heath district, and in some winters we also suffer from the 

 depredations of large flocks of immigrants. During the past 

 autumn a certain number of wood pigeons probably just the 

 residents were to be met with, but these disappeared in 

 November, and during the months of December, 1909, and 

 January, 1910, 1 do not think I caught sight of two individiuals, 

 although constantly on the look out for them. The fir- woods, 

 in which they usually roost, were entirely deserted, and the 

 swedes were quite untouched by them. This exceptional 



