ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 5:]9 



most of the females were sitting, but not so hard as the 

 Cormorants. 



On March 28th, when looking for Blackcock in a clearing 

 of one of those high-lying wooded districts near Prague 

 which are quite destitute of any large streams or marshy flats, 

 three Herons, tired with some long journey, came slowly 

 flying along at sunrise, one after another, and close to the 

 ground. I knocked down the leader, but in spite of the shot 

 the two others settled in an adjacent field of young corn. It 

 was a cold morning, and a succession of snow-showers were 

 being brought up by a strong west wind. The Herons were 

 flying from a south-easterly direction and were battling 

 against the wind. 



In the neighbourhood of Prague I saw the first Starlings 

 (Sturnus vulgans) at the end of February. On March 21st 

 I arrived at a shooting-lodge situated at the edge of a great 

 forest in Northern Bohemia. During the first part of the 

 afternoon the temperature was very high, the weather quite 

 like spring, and pairs of Starlings were sitting in front of my 

 window on the numerous nest-boxes. Towards evening there 

 was a heavy storm, succeeded by a very decided change of 

 temperature. The next morning brought with it cold showers 

 of rain, and the Starlings had all left their breeding-places, 

 and were flying about the fields in large flocks. On the 

 following day the country was covered with snow, and it kept 

 getting colder and colder. I w r as out of doors the whole day, 

 but did not see a single Starling, for they had begun to 

 beat a retreat. Two days afterwards the weather improved, 

 the temperature rose, the sun shone pleasantly, and on looking 

 out of my window in the morning I again saw the Starlings 

 busily employed at their breeding-boxes. 



The Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) also seems to have been 

 much influenced in its breeding by the mild weather of the 

 present year, for close to Prague on the evening of March 



