554 ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 



The abundance of Turtle-Doves, Quail, and particularly of 

 Corn-Crakes strikes me as singular, the last-mentiened bird 

 occurring even in localities not quite suited to its habits. The 

 Nightingale is also exceptionally common in the few places 

 near Prague that afford it good accommodation, for with us it 

 altogether avoids the coniferous woods and only frequents 

 the thick leafy bushes on the sides* of streams and damp 

 hillsides, where it lives in close companionship with other 

 members of its group. 



On the 23rd 1 saw three fully-fledged Tawny Owls and some 

 Hooded Crows of the year. 



On the 27th I found a very handsome old male of the Little 

 Bittern on a steep slope thickly covered with hazels, beyond 

 the Beraun. 



On the evening of the 28th, as I was walking through a 

 pine-wood near the fields, a Woodcock suddenly flew close up 

 to me, and fluttered round several times. I had probably 

 gone too near its nest. 



On the 30th I observed a pair of Barred Warblers (Sylvia 

 nisoria) by the bushy margin of a little irrigation-ditch in a 

 garden near Prague. Several pairs of Red-backed Shrikes 

 inhabited the same locality, and I saw an old male strike 

 down from a tree a young but full-fledged Sparrow, which he 

 was beginning to devour on the ground, when my sudden 

 appearance drove off the robber, and allowed the Sparrow, 

 which was only slightly wounded, to fly off into the nearest 

 bushes. 



I will conclude by devoting a few more words to the 

 Blackcock. 



The drumming-season of this bird, which in the districts 

 that fell under my observation had lasted a long time, came to 

 an end in the middle of May. But in one part of the ground, 

 where almost all the nests both of the Partridge and the 



