WITH THE BIRDS IN WALES 161 



and many an hour I have waited before they would 

 return to their treasures. There are several pairs of 

 Corncrakes in the meadows adjoining the river ; they 

 were " creking " incessantly this morning. 



May i%th. The nest in the big larch at W., which 

 is obviously a Sparrow-hawk's old nest, appears to 

 have been renovated. A friend showed me a Duck's 

 nest in which a Pheasant had laid, but when we 

 visited it two Ducks were incubating. On a beam in 

 the corner of an outhouse we examined a Redstart's 

 home with five eggs, and in a hole of a thorn-tree a 

 Tit's nest, but of what sort I cannot say, for we did 

 not watch the bird back, and she was not " on " at the 

 time, but we could plainly see eggs. We examined 

 another Pheasant's nest, containing nine eggs, in a 

 very exposed position at the roots of an oak. I hear 

 that the Buzzard's nest on the G. river up in the hills 

 has been robbed. This is one of the few nests where 

 this species hatches off in safety every year, so the 

 news was all the more vexing. 



May \gth. Started for A., pursuing the hill range 

 running parallel with the road, visiting en route the 

 Kestrel's haunt, but saw neither of the birds, and 

 beyond finding a Crow's nest in a small hillside oak 

 wood, saw little of note. At the A. rocks I soon saw 

 a pair of Red Hawks over a dingle enclosed by very 

 steep cliffs, but though I viewed the female gliding 

 out of the rocks, I was too far off to determine the 

 precise spot, and unless this species has young or 

 highly incubated eggs it is a very light " sitter," and 

 in no way demonstrative. However, 1 scaled a 

 certain part of the cliff, and ensconcing myself on a 



12 



