December, 1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



281 



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0IlTlStt 







I=- 



f 



ORNiTaOLOGiCAt> ..^^ 



,NOIESr.__ 



,^*V^ 



Conducted by Haery P. Witheeby, f.z.s., m.b.o.d. 



Migrating Sw.\llows. — We observed the last swallows, 

 aa we thought, on October 11th. None were seen after 

 that date till suddenly on the 29th they appealed again, 

 — swallows and houise martins — remaining in consider- 

 able numbers up to November 2nd. On that day they 

 were swanaing over this house, sitting in rows on the 

 roof, or flying high in the air. Next day we saw one or 

 two only, and not one after. Can these have been a 

 north country lot on their way south ? for I am sure 

 our summer friends all left on the 11th October. — 

 L. M. Sabine Pasley, Botley Hill, Botley, Hants. 



[Tho swallows which visited Miss Pasley were iiii- 

 doubttHlly niigiauls from the north, and simply broke 

 ihoir journey southward for a day or two in a congenial 

 noighbourhooil. C.ilbort White wa.s continually noticing 

 that swallows visited his noiglibourhood after the 

 Sclborne birtls had all disappeared, and it was this 

 reappearance of the swallows that led one of the acubest 

 observers of nature into (he mistaken idea that tiie birds 

 were really hiding in a toqjid state from which they 

 awoke in occasional spells of warm weather. Facts have 

 converted the theory of hibernation into a mere myth, 

 and we now know very well that although the majority 

 of swallows and martins leave this country together a 

 great many remain some weeks longer and proceed 

 leisurely south in small companies, stopping here and 

 there for food and rest.— 11. F. W.] 



Breeding of thi- Uhic-headed Wagtail in Nu.isex /'Zoologist, 

 October, '1901, p. 389). -Mr. W. "Kuskin Butterlicid rcconls 

 that a nest of the Bluc-hciided Wagtail, containing lour 

 eggs, was found by Mr. (icorge Bristow, junior, in a turniji 

 licld near Winchclseii. on May 51st, 1901. Three of the eggs were 

 acciilcnt^iUy broken, but the ri'iuiiining one with the nest and 

 jiarcnt birds have been submitted to .\Ir. II. K. Dresser, and 

 are ])roelaimc(l to be Blue-headed Wagtails. This bird is usually 

 considered an irregular migrating visitor to our shores. 



Broad-billed Sandpiper in Kent and in Su.s.ux ('Zoologist, 

 October, 1901, p. 390).— Mr. L. A. Curtis Edwards records 

 that an immature female of this rare visitor to (Jreat Britain 

 was i)rocured at Liltlestone-on-Sea, Kent, on August 31st; whiU: 

 yiv. Ruskin Buttertield records that an immature male was shot 

 by Mr. A. C. Wendell Price on September 141h near Bexhill, 

 in Sussex. 



Nutcracker in Yorkshire {Ibis, October, 1901, )]. 7:!7).— Mr. 

 W. Kuskin Butterlield writes to the fbis that a Nutcracker 

 wa-s shot bv a gamekeeper near Ilkley. Yorkshire, on January 5th, 

 1901. The" bird proves to belong to the slender-billed Siberian form 

 which migrated in great, numbers last winti^r to Holland, Germany, 

 and Scandinavia (.tee Knowlkdoe, November, 1900, p. 256, and 

 May, 1901, p. 117). 



Tairny Owl in Ireland (Irish Naturalist, November, 1901, 

 p. 230).— I am glad to hear from Mr. Robert Patterson that 

 another of the Tawny Owls unfortunately introduced into Ireland 

 {see Knowledge, April, 1901, p. 90) has been .shot. The sooni'r 

 they are all accounted for the better. 



Earbi Ornithologists. ISv the Uev. H. A. Macphcrsun, M.A. 

 (Zoologist, October. 1901," pp. 376-585).— This is an interesting 

 aitiele eimcerning four old-time ornithologists, William Turner, 

 Pierre Behm, Conrad Gesner, and AUlrovandi, whc^ tlourislicd 

 in the 16t.h century. 



Breeding Habits of the Swift. Bv the Rev. Allan Ellison. 

 (Zoologlii, October, 1901, pp. 384-385). -The author here eon- 

 hrms the observations made bv the Kev. Jourdain (see Know- 

 i.EDOE, October, 1901, p. 234), and is of opinion that Swifts 

 regularly lay three eggs. 



All contributiom to the column, either in the way of notes 

 or photographs, should be forwarded to Harry F. WrrHERBV, 

 at 10, St. Germans Place, Blackluath, Kent. 



FLOWERING PLANTS, 



AS ILLUSTRATED BY BRITISH WILD-FLOWERS. 



By R. Lloyd Pr.iegek, b.a. 

 VI.— THE VEGETATION OF IRELAND. 

 "When we come to investigate and endeavour to under- 

 stand the distribution of plant,s on a large scale— to 

 study veyetnlions, in lieu of the plant associations which 

 compose' them— we find ourselves involved in a mass 

 of facts on the one hand, and of hypotheses on the other, 

 which convey an idea of the variety of phenomena in- 

 volved, and the complicated questions which at once 

 arise. Let us take aa a simple example the case of a 

 circumscribed area of reasonable size— the island ot 

 Ireland, and endeavour to obtain some idea of its 



