ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 549 



they were probably brought in by the southerly gale of the 

 4th and the following night. This observation was confirmed 

 a few days later. 



During the middle of the day I also saw the first Swifts 

 (Cypselus apus) at the cliffs on the river Beraun, and on the 

 6th observed them in Prague. Next day I heard Turtle-Doves 

 cooing in a little wood among the fields, and saw the males 

 performing the most beautiful aerial evolutions before their 

 mates. In the thickets I noticed the Whitethroat (Sylvia 

 cinerea) and the Lesser Whitethroat (/S. garrnla)', among the 

 flowering elder-bushes of the little gardens near the above 

 wood I remarked the Icterine Warbler (Hypolais icterina), 

 and in the reed-bed of a pond the Marsh- Warbler (Acro- 

 cephalus palustris). There I also saw a Wagtail not 

 the Grey Wagtail (Motacilla sulphured), which I met with 

 daily on the woodland streams of this district, but another 

 species with a shorter tail and somewhat different plumage. 

 A good many of them were going about the reeds and flitting 

 from one tall stem to another. I also flushed a wonderfully 

 handsome Little Bittern (Ardea minuta), as well as several 

 paired couples of Garganey Teal (Anas qucrquedula), the 

 females rising from their nests. 



A trustworthy keeper, in detailing his observations to me, 

 stated that some days ago he had seen an Osprey (Pandion 

 haliaetus) fishing, and afterwards swooping at the ducks 

 on the above-mentioned pond ; nor would the bird leave 

 the place until it had been twice hit. This is the first 

 time since I came to this part of the country that I have 

 heard of the appearance of the Osprey in that district, 

 where three little ponds are the only waters within a wide 

 radius. 



On May 8th I passed a couple of days at a farm-house 

 situated on the borders of the woods already alluded to. There 

 I found that the manager had a small collection of birds 



