FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 189 



The foliage of these trees not being so large as usual caused the 

 trees to look thinly clad, and by Midsummer, through the intense 

 heat, the fall of the leaf began. The terrific gales which came upon 

 us in September stripped the trees of their foliage, so that by the 

 beginning of October the trees in general presented a wintery 

 appearance. There is an unusual abundance of fruit for bird food, 

 such as the Hawthorn, Elder, Holly-berry, Blackthorn, Acorns, &c., 

 while the Hazel Nut was well-nigh ripe by the end of August. 

 Ornithologically speaking, the Cuckoo appeared about the usual 

 time, i.e., the 19th of April, the Nightingale, the Corncrake, as also 

 the Goatsucker. While the former almost entirely withheld her 

 song, the evening was alive with the clatter of the latter. It is 

 curious that only one solitary specimen of the Glowworm came 

 under my observation, i.e., on the evening of the 6th of June." 



The Redstart has been noted by three observers, at Sherborne, 

 Hawkchurch, and Rushmore, and the Red-backed Shrike by one, 

 at Sherborne only. Both these birds are apparently scarce in 

 Dorset, the latter not having been noted since 1892, but the bird 

 is probably not known to some of the observers. The Corncrake 

 is not usually noted by more than a few observers, and it is a bird 

 the song of which would probably be noticed if present in the 

 neighbourhood. The birds which were earlier this year than in 

 1895 are the Flycatcher, Fieldfare, Blackbird (nesting at the early 

 date of January 16 at Bere Regis), Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, 

 Skylark (song January 1st at Cheddington), Turtle Dove, 

 Woodcock, and Redstart, whilst the Nightingale, Cuckoo, Swallow, 

 and others were later, the swallow being no less than 16 days later 

 in Dorset, in spite of which the last date on which it was seen is 

 five days earlier than in 1895 so that its stay with us this year seems 

 to have been unusually short. 



The dates of the first flowering of plants show a striking contrast 

 to those of 1896, being with but few exceptions considerably earlier 

 in 1897, often from three to five weeks. Those that are later are 

 but from one to four days later in flowering, except the Ivy and 

 Water Mint, which latter is only recorded in 1897 by one observer 



