FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 185 



bills (Alca 'torda\ and a few Puffins build on the cliffs east of 

 Whitenose every year. Our fishermen say that this spring 

 considerable numbers of the dead bodies of these birds have 

 been washed ashore, they think owing to some disease to which 

 they, together with the Razorbill and Puffin, would appear to be 

 subject periodically. Possibly, however, it may be accounted for 

 by the rough storms of March and the difficulty of procuring 

 food. The Razorbill is common with us, though not so plentiful 

 as the Guillemot. The Puffin is rarer just here. An intelligent 

 fisherman speaks of the haste with which the parent Guillemots 

 bring their young down to the water. He has seen the young 

 far out at sea long before they were properly fledged, and he 

 mentions from observation instances of the young vanishing a 

 day or two after having been hatched from the egg. Were they 

 destroyed by enemies, or did they fall from their ledge of rock ? 

 He thinks not, but that they were carried down by their parents 

 to the sea. The ravens have once more built their nest in a 

 wholly inaccessible cliff not very far from here. The Nightingale 

 for the first time appears to have bred with us this season, 

 though I have not found the nest. At least two males began 

 singing on 2 6th April. The song continued till 4th June, 

 though it was only maintained at its best for about a fortnight. 

 This is the first season I have myself heard this bird within this 

 parish, though it is said to have sung before. The song was 

 begun about two hours before sunset, and would go on through 

 the night till towards noon the next day. The Black Cap has 

 seemed more plentiful than last year. Song Thrushes, it would 

 appear, have never recovered in numbers from the great frost of 

 1895. Might not they be protected during the breeding season ? 

 They are not so destructive to fruit as the blackbirds. The 

 Bunting always appears about the first week in May on the high 

 sprays of the hedges round the fields, singing his harsh but 

 pleasing song. But curiously we never see him here in flocks in 

 the winter. When the breeding season and the moult is well 

 past these birds appear to leave our neighbourhood to flock 

 elsewhere. For two years a pair of Sparrow-Hawks have built 



