ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 537 



and on March 21st and the following days I saw many of 

 them in Northern Bohemia, where they were looking for 

 insects on the fields and flying about the large ponds in 

 flocks. No paired couples were noticed at that time. 



In Northern Bohemia, after a long spell of unnaturally 

 warm weather, there came on March 22nd a pretty severe 

 snowfall, with a sudden fall in the temperature, and the 

 strong north-east wind seemed to have a great influence on 

 the migration of the birds, for on a little stream that flows 

 through woods and meadows, and that usually harbours as 

 resident birds only a few pairs of Mallards, I found on 

 March 22nd a Double Snipe (Gallinago major), and soon 

 afterwards a Bittern (Botaitrus stellar is). Both seemed to 

 be much tired with a long journey, and rose very slowly 

 before the dogs. The Bittern is extremely rare in this 

 locality, and few of the keepers knew it. 



The Wood-Pigeon ( Coluniba palumbus) was first observed 

 near Prague at the end of February. On the 14th of March 

 I saw large flocks both of this bird and of the Stock-Dove 

 ( C. cenas) in the meadows of the Danube below Vienna, and 

 also found paired couples of the two species in their customary 

 haunts. 



The Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) came to the neighbour- 

 hood of Vienna in the beginning of March, and was un- 

 usually scarce both in the auen of the Danube and in the 

 Wiener Wald,for the dryness of the ground and the hot weather 

 drove them quickly to their breeding-places. Even when we 

 were out shooting, these birds, which are generally so sluggish 

 during the day, were singularly active. I saw some that 

 were flushed rise high in the air, wing their way over woods 

 and valleys, and disappear for good. 



On March 20th I found many Woodcocks in the woods 

 west of Prague, where they breed every year in the damp 

 valleys among the dense pine-forests and birches. According 



