ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 551 



On tha morning of May 9th, which was cold and rainy, with 

 a strong westerly gale, I heard a Woodcock loudly sounling 

 its note while flying, as early as four o'clock. The Blackcock, 

 too, were drumming pretty lustily and later than usual, 

 but still only before sunrise and for a very short time. I also 

 saw a pair of Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) constantly circling 

 round some thick firs. With rushing flight they mounted 

 high aloft, screaming loudly and playfully pursuing each 

 other, and as they vanished several times into a dense fir 

 tree I imagine they must have had a nest there ; the 

 branches, however, were so matted that I could not satisfy 

 myself on this point, though I certainly thought I heard 

 the hungry cries of the young hawks. This would have been 

 unusually soon, and only to be accounted for by the very 

 early spring. 



I must also record the interesting fact that, up to May 1 1th, 

 I had not seen a single Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) ? 

 though, while rambling about the neighbourhood of Prague, 

 I searched the localities which I knew to have been the 

 favourite haunts and breeding-grounds of this bird in former 

 years, and I had already noted that it arrived near Vienna 

 during the end of April and at Prague in the beginning 

 of May. 



On May 12th I saw a little falcon sitting on a telegraph- 

 wire by the highroad south of Prague, and being struck by its 

 very small size, I shot it. It turned out to be a Red-legged 

 Falcon in the plumage of the second year, a somewhat rare 

 bird in this district. 



On May 13th I saw the first Flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola) 

 in a garden at Prague, and on the 14th several in the same 

 place ; also some young Blackbirds fully fledged, and a pair 

 of Garden-Warblers (Sylvia hortensis) at their already 

 finished nest. 



